Feel The Burn
by ASouthernRussian
Summary: Yang is a professional trainer at the most well-known gym in all of Vale - what more does she need in life? She finds her answer when a certain white-haired girl stumbles into her gym and her life. Real-life!AU
1. Chapter 1

Weiss was having some serious second thoughts right about now.

It wasn't even her idea in the first place, but she found herself standing outside of a black and gold building with the words "Gold's Gym" boldly sprawled down the façade. It was in a different part of town, the bus to get there was odd and unfamiliar, and she wasn't even sure if Ruby gave her the right address. All these signs were screaming at her to turn around and head home.

_So why am I still here?!_

Indeed, Weiss came all the way out to this place after Ruby kept nagging her to do so. Her roommate had good intentions – something along the lines of "exercise will turn that frown upside-down!" – and they were warranted, but Weiss felt uneasy about it all. It's one thing to talk about working to change yourself, but it was an entirely different issue when she, well, actually tried something.

Some of the passerby on the sidewalk were starting to give the petite girl strange looks. They were almost silently urging her to make a decision: _go or stay, just get out of the way!_ They probably weren't really thinking of anything in particular, but that's how Weiss was feeling at the moment.

She turned to look back at the bus stop just down the block from the entrance and could spot the arrival time of the next bus: _B Line – Beacon University: 4 minutes_. That wouldn't be too much longer of a wait for her. Four minutes and Weiss could return to her dorm, give Ruby some excuse about how the gym was closed but how she really tried, and that's what counts, right?

Still, something within Weiss knew that she needed this, no matter how new and different it all might be. It was her final year of university, and yet Weiss was still working herself to the bone. The nights got longer and longer, her physical condition got worse and worse, and it was all reaching the point that if she kept pushing herself academically, Weiss would actually start performing worse in school.

No, Ruby was right, something had to change, but… _this?_ Weiss was well aware of the benefits of working out, both for the mind and body – heck, she even wrote a paper about it once – but standing in front of those glass doors in the middle of the sidewalk, she felt as if this was just a place she didn't belong. Weiss could take a peek inside and see the strong, muscular forms of the people within and she knew that she wasn't one of them.

_I will _never_ be like any of them_.

Weiss shook away the thought furiously. _Oh, no you don't!_ she scolded herself. _You are Weiss-damn-Schnee, and I'll be damned if I gave up right here and now. I haven't even started! Who knows, maybe I'm actually cut out for this whole exercise thing?_ A fire lit in her eyes and filled her with burning determination. At last, she moved her spot on the sidewalk and strode confidently toward the doors.

_Alright, Gold's Gym, you better be prepared for the strength of a Schnee!_

* * *

Weiss very quickly learned that the strength of a Schnee did not amount to much.

Quite frankly, not even the brain of a Schnee could help her. From the moment Weiss entered the gym, it was painfully clear that she had no idea what she was in for. Still, it was too late to back out – she already set foot inside of the place as a proclamation of her resolve, and she'd be damned if she didn't approach this new world with the determination of a Schnee. Weiss passed the front desk, ignoring the receptionist there, and headed straight into the belly of the beast.

Though it didn't look it from the outside, the gym was deceptively vast, filled with all sorts of equipment from the simplest weight rack to some of the more intricate-looking machinery – Weiss would be avoiding the latter for now. _Everything starts simple,_ she thought as she stared at the long line of dumbbells and picked up the first pair she saw. She did not, however, notice the bold label saying "35" on it and almost dropped the weights on her foot.

"Eeeeep!" Weiss yelped, attracting the attention of some of the others around. They gave her a curious look before returning to whatever exercise they were doing. _Great, I've already brought attention to myself, _she groaned. She was already well aware of how out of place she was at Gold's, so Weiss was in no mood to have judging eyes watch her. The petite girl decided that in order to not embarrass herself further, she ought to seek something that wouldn't break her bones if something went wrong.

After scanning the room for equipment she could try without looking like a complete fool, Weiss found something that looked like it would work out her legs – a "leg press", as so labelled. Weiss might not be the strongest, but she did learn in her anatomy course that the legs are some of the most powerful muscles in the body, so this machine should prove to be more fruitful. She seated herself in the proper position, as shown in the diagram by the leg press, and pushed forward as the instructions directed.

To her surprise, Weiss actually managed to push the platform forward without too much trouble. A confident smile crossed her face. _See, this isn't so bad – I've got some muscle in me after all!_ However, after six or seven repetitions, her legs began to weaken and wobble. Try as she might, Weiss could no longer hold her legs out and, in one sudden action, relaxed her legs. A resounding "clang!" echoed across the gym.

…_alright, never mind, still making a fool of myself,_ Weiss bemoaned as her face reddened with both frustration and embarrassment. _Perhaps I should try something less strenuous?_ Within seconds, she spotted a line of treadmills and other cardio machines – strength might not be easy to come by, but surely, running couldn't be too hard?

* * *

_Well, there's someone you don't see every day, _Yang mused as she followed the newcomer with her eyes.

She immediately knew that this girl was out of her element. Sure, the petite girl certainly looked the part of a regular, with her high quality gymwear – brands that even Yang couldn't afford with her paycheck – and a steely look of determination in her eyes, but something was off. She looked around the gym floor with a certain trepidation, uncertain of where to go. Yang returned to her squats, but she made it a point to keep tabs on this girl.

Her initial impression was quickly proven correct. Yang watched the little princess move from machine to machine, her determination quickly deteriorating into frustration as she attempted to use the equipment. It was as if she had a vague idea of what people do in a gym but had never seen the equipment before, let alone entered a gym. All that fumbling about amused Yang, who tried her best to keep her giggling to herself, but she quickly stopped herself. _C'mon, not everyone gets it the first time, _Yang reminded herself. _If you keep poking fun at the newbies, they'll never le—_

Yang lost it, however, when she noticed how angrily the girl glared at the treadmill from her spot on the floor, sprawled out as if she had be launched from a cannon. _Did she actually- no, no one is that uncoordinated that they fall off the treadmill. You have to be a dunce to let that happen to you!_ It seemed that this girl was genuinely lost in this gym. Yang got up from her bench with a knowing sigh. "Well, looks like it's time to do my job," she said to her herself with a grin.

Upon noticing the blonde's presence, the face of the girl on the floor shot up to gaze at the newcomer and her expression shifted from frustration to mild embarrassment – clearly, the little princess wasn't keen on being seen in such a degrading state. Though amused at her effect on this girl, Yang paused when she took a closer look at the klutz; her eyes had just the slightest hint of shadow under them, the kind you get when you start losing sleep, and a scar, well-hidden under makeup, sliced over her left eye. _There's certainly more than meets the eye with this one_, the trainer thought with a flicker of a frown.

"How's the floor treating you?" Yang asked. She was concerned about this girl, but Yang's humor always found a way into any situation. Unsurprisingly, her comment earned a nonplussed glare from the girl on the floor.

"No one asked you," the white-haired girl snapped before getting back on her feet.

"No, but generally, people don't try to fall on their asses, especially not while running on a treadmill." Yang glanced at the display on the treadmill to see what kind of program that girl was attempting and found quite a surprise. "10 miles per hour is a little ambitious, don't you think?"

"I… may have set the speed a little higher than I expected," the girl admitted, but she soon returned to her standoffish state. "Anyway, thank you for your unsolicited concern, but don't you have something better to do right now?"

"I could ask you the same," Yang retorted.

The way the white-haired girl paused seemed to indicate that she doesn't normally get backtalk from others. "Excuse me?"

"It's just that I've been keeping an eye on you ever since you came into the gym and seeing you go from place to place, and – how should I put this – you seem kinda lost. You sure you know what you're doing?"

Yang did not expect the white-haired girl to let out a sigh of relief upon hearing her remark. _Did she not want to be here?_ "No, not really," the girl said with resignation, picking herself up off the floor, "but my roommate wouldn't shut up until I went to the gym."

"What, did she need a workout buddy?" the blonde asked, inquisitively scanning the room for anyone about college age that would fit the bill.

"Does it look like I came here with somebody?" the princess replied with annoyance. Yang stopped searching. "No, I came here because… never mind, it's not important."

"Important enough for you to hide it," Yang interjected. She really shouldn't be meddling in other people's business, but something about this girl compelled her to.

"Who asked you?" the girl quickly snapped. "Why do you care what I do?"

"I care because it's my job to care for anyone who enters this gym – especially if that certain someone leaves out the weights they've used."

Realization dawned on the other girl's face. "I'll… I'll clean that up on my way out! I'm sorry that I left such a mess."

_Whoops, played the authority card a bit hard, didn't I? _"Ah, don't sweat it. Besides, I ain't done with you yet."

"E-excuse me?"

"I'm still curious as to why came here in the first place, since whatever you do here is my problem. I get that your roommate was bugging you to do it, but she'd have to have a reason why." She really didn't have any right to barge into this girl's personal life, but Yang had a hunch

Yang could visibly see the girl rolling the words around in her head. Finally, she settled on her answer. "Well, if you must know, she was… worried."

"Worried? What for?"

"Let me put it this way – when you work out, your body is supposed to release chemicals that make you feel good, right?"

"Yeah, endorphins! Those guys are awesome!"

"Right. Well, let's just say that I need something like that."

There was a long silence afterward, during which Yang ruminated on what this girl had just told her. _Sounds like she's in some deep shit, almost… depressed? _Sadness wasn't a particularly familiar feeling for the blonde, but she could spot it immediately in the people around her, and boy, did it hurt to see such a nasty emotion. Granted, this little princess seemed to hide her feelings quite well, almost as if she had been practicing for years, but it colored her voice and her expressions a shade ever so slightly darker. Good grief, what was her life like that she had to bury her emotions in such a way?

_I can't let her go._

"Well," Yang piped up, her usual grin growing back on her face, "your roommate sure told you to come to the right place! In the gym, there's nothing to hold you back or put you down – only cold, hard iron, begging to be thrown around by the raw power of your spirit. To enter the gym… is to enter your own mind." While she was impressed with her final sagely declaration, she could feel the girl's eyes roll, so she cut to the chase. "What I'm trying to say is that I can help out – for a small fee, of course!"

Either in spite of or thanks to her corny speech, the white-haired girl's frame seemed to relax. "I suppose I ought to try this place in the proper way," she said with a sigh, though this time she sounded less resigned. "And don't worry about money, _that _of all things I can manage. By the way, I didn't manage to catch your name."

"Oh yeah, how rude of me! My name's Yang Xiao Long; professional trainer by day, professional heartbreaker by night," Yang proclaimed, "but to you, I'm just Yang. What's yours?"

"Weiss." The other girl paused for a moment, seemly having something else to add.

"Weiss Schnee."

Yang's hand was still reached out for the welcome, her face dropped her usual cheerfulness and adopted a new expression of confusion. "Hold on, is that... Schnee as in Schnee Tech?" Schnee Technological, Incorporated was perhaps one of the most prolific companies out there, being responsible for many of the innovations in electronics that most people in Remnant used on a daily basis. Heck, the scroll, TV, and computer Yang owned all ran off of software developed by Schnee Tech._ Come to think of it, she kinda does look like a Schnee,_ the trainer thought to herself. _Does that mean..._

"Yes, I am the same Schnee. My father runs the company, and that makes me the heiress," came the canned reply, infused with a hint of disappointment. The blond noticed the darkening mood and immediately made a move to lighten it.

"And here I was thinking, 'Man, doesn't she look just like a little princess?' I guess I was half right."

"I am not little!" Weiss shouted with indignation, "And besides, it's 'heiress', not 'princess.'"

Yang laughed at the little outburst. "Well, I'm glad that you let the entire gym know that you're conscious of your height." Weiss's pale face swelled with crimson embarrassment upon revelation. "Anyway, it's cool that you're a Schnee and all, but don't think that because you're from a rich family, you get to miss tomorrow."

"W-wait, what's tomorrow?"

"Your first day to the gym, silly!"

"I never agreed to this!"

"Look, tomorrow is Saturday, so I know that you don't have classes. Beside, this place isn't too busy then, so we'll have the freedom to explore all the equipment together!"

Once again, Weiss found herself unable to find words fast enough to keep up with the racing pace of her new trainer's mind. She opened her mouth in protest, but she instead surrendered and said weakly, "...I'll be free tomorrow from 2 until 8."

"Cool! Let's do… 3 PM then? That should give us plenty of time to figure out your goals for your time at the gym and how to achieve them." Yang then added with a grin, "Oh yeah, and I can show you how to properly operate the machines here."

"Oh, ha ha," Weiss replied sarcastically, but a faint smile betrayed her amusement at the joke. "Right, so… 3 it is."

"Yep!"

"Alright, I'll be there." The heiress started to head out, but before reaching the door, she turned around and called to the blond. "Oh, and Yang?"

"Yeah?"

"It… it was nice to meet you."

"Likewise. See you around." Yang couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was something special about this Weiss.

* * *

_BETA: Jefardi_

_EDITOR: Just_one_more__

* * *

**Hello there! I hope you enjoyed this first little dip into our little Freezerburn story. It's going to be a slow burner (heh) with some fluff and likely more feels, so be prepared for anything ;)**

**That's all for now!**


	2. Chapter 2

When Weiss turned the key to her dorm room after that very, very long day, she hoped that she might be able to sit down and relax for a while. No homework – though plenty was due soon – no readings, just her in bed with a laptop in front of her to surf the web mindlessly until she would eventually fall asleep. _That would just be the best,_ the heiress thought to herself as she pushed open the door, though unfortunately, the blur of red and black before her had other plans.

"Weiss, Weiss, Weiss, you're back!" The blur that had been zipping across the room stopped in front of the startled girl, standing in the threshold in the form of her roommate. Well, more of a force of nature than an actual person, but since she could form complete sentences from time to time and occasionally be reasoned with, that was good enough. She wore a red collared shirt – her favorite color – with the sleeves rolled up haphazardly, along with her ever-present faded black jeans. Her dark brown hair was, as usual, quite disheveled, tipped with streaks of red. However, her most distinguishing features were her shimmering silver eyes and her stupid grin. Overall, the girl gave off the impression of a crimson whirlwind, something Weiss was not particularly keen on dealing with at that moment.

"Alright, Ruby, the next time you greet someone, especially me, please just greet them like a normal person and not like…well, you."

"Okay!" Ruby exclaimed, clearing her throat and proceeding with her best impression of her roommate's voice, "'Good day, madam, it is most exquisite to have to return to our humble adobe.' There, that better?" Her roommate's only response was a strained groan, dripping with annoyance. "Well, you _do_ sound like that sometimes, you know."

"Don't be a pest - just because I'm a Schnee, it doesn't mean that I employ such ridiculous vocabulary. Besides, the word you were looking for was 'abode,' not 'adobe,' as the latter term refers to a clay-like building ma- why are you smiling again." She meant that last statement to be a question, but it was a question she so often asked that Weiss almost spoke the words out of reflex, devoid of inflection.

"Because you're proving my point!" Ruby proclaimed with a beaming smile. _Strange,_ Weiss wondered, _it's almost as if I had just seen that face not an hour ago...great, I don't think I can handle TWO goofballs in my life right now._ Resigning herself to the fact that she wasn't going to win any arguments with Ruby any time soon, she changed the subject.

"I know that cheerfulness is pretty much your one defining quality, but you're far more chipper than usual. What's got you this excited?" Weiss almost regretted asking the brunette this when she squealed giddily and started bouncing around the room again.

"I got a date, I got a date, I got a da-a-ate!"

"Oh? You finally found someone who can tolerate your antics and keep up with your energy levels?"

"Hey!" Ruby pouted, "You're making me sound like I'm crazy or something."

"Precisely."

"I'm not crazy – I just love life, a-and want others to do the same!"

"Wonderful. Who's the lucky and/or unlucky guy?"

"Well…" the girl in red started to wander off into a dream-like state, her voice adopting a wispy quality, "there's this guy in my history class named Jaune that I've been talking to for a little while now. He's super cute, with messy blond hair and big ol' blue eyes that look like the ocean, and-and he's also a giant dork, like me – not that we're weird or anything, dorks can be normal, too – and we haven't really done too much else aside from talking a little during and after class, but he's always talking to just me, so I'm pretty sure that means he likes me, but I don't know, because he hasn't really said anything direct about it yet, so it's technically up in the air, but you know, I think tha-"

"Whoa there, you can slow down that motor mouth of yours a bit," Weiss said, holding out her hands to indicate that Ruby should actually slow down _a lot_ more. Ruby noticed this and took a couple of deep breaths.

"Right, right, sorry, got a little carried away, he he…"

"That's fine, I wouldn't expect anything less from you," Weiss comforted, albeit in her usual, snarky manner. "Anyway, you were saying something about a date?"

"Oh yeah!" Ruby's face immediately lit up like the sun. "Yeah, so today, after lecture today, Jaune finally ran out after me and told me that really wanted to do something with me outside of class. I got all giddy inside, but I hid it so I didn't look like an idiot, and asked him what he had in mind, and he said that he was thinking of going to one of those nice restaurants on Atlas Avenue, and then I said yes in my most lady-like manner, and then he left, and now I'm back here!"

"And now you're releasing all the pent-up excitement from this invitation in a place where you won't embarrass yourself?" Weiss deduced.

"Yep! Well, not just excitement, also a little bit of worry. I mean, I've never dated anyone before, and this guy, I swear, is so perfect for me! I mean, this is my chance to really seal the deal, y'know? So I've got to make sure I do everything right, or else I might do something stupid, and then he might think _I'm_ stupid and not want to date me again, and then… and then…" Before Ruby spiraled further and further down her little vortex of despair and self-doubt, Weiss broke her from her trance with a swift flick to the forehead. The brunette yelped in protest, nursing the little bruise her roommate just gave her, but she stood at attention, just as the heiress wanted.

"Look, Ruby, you're going to get nowhere thinking like that," she started, resting a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "If he likes you, then he probably already knows about all your weird little quirks and mannerisms. In fact, from the way you described him, that's probably _why_ he likes you in the first place; he's a little dork, you're a big dork, and so you two can go dork together happily into the night." She paused when she saw her roommate's face begin to match the color of her shirt. "Not like that, you dolt! At least, not yet, anyway – I mean that you two are well suited for each other, and he'll likely accept your little hiccups just as you might for him."

Ruby tilted her head in confusion. "You mean it's alright if I start hiccupping around him."

"Of course it's alrig- _that's not what I meant!_ I don't mean literal hiccups, I mean those moments when you do something silly or dumb for no particular reason."

"Oooohhhhhhh, that's what you meant…" Weiss's roommate pointed her finger up meaningfully, as if what was just said came as a great revelation to her.

"Right… look, the bottom line is this: don't worry about the date, it will go well and Jaune will still like you."

Ruby let out a sigh of relief that she had been holding in for hours and turned to her white-haired roommate, who offered a slight smile, uncharacteristic of her usual cold demeanor. "Thanks, Weiss. You really know the perfect things to say at times like this." Weiss winced momentarily upon hearing that notorious "P" word.

"Right, anything to calm you down." She finally shifted from her position in the threshold and walked over to her desk, tossing her back on the floor and slumping into her chair. "I don't need anything else today to wear me out." Before she realized her poor choice of phrasing, Ruby piped up with the question she had been hoping to avoid.

"Oh, that reminds me! How did the trip to the gym go?"

The heiress was slow to respond. Truthfully, she thought it to be a dreadful experience. She humiliated herself in more ways than she'd like to admit, bumbling around the place without a clue of what she was doing, screwing up enough to get the attention of one of the workers there. Sure enough, the girl – Yang, was it? – made a somewhat admirable attempt to make herself seem welcome in the gym, but, just like she had said, she didn't _belong_ there. No, rather than taking more time out of her already tight schedule to go to Gold's Gym and continue to make a fool of herself there, Weiss planned on not returning there again. She felt a little bad for having to leave the blond trainer hanging like that, but she had already made up her mind.

"It was as bad as I thought it would be," she replied curtly, "and I do not think that it will be worth my while to continue that activity."

Unfortunately, her energetic roommate was not about to accept this sort of answer. "What do you mean, it was bad? You didn't break anything did you?"

"No, no, nothing like that! It just did not feel… it did not feel all that welcoming." An image of the trainer crossed through her mind, holding her hand out and showing off a warm smile.

"Really? That's a shame… but I don't think it could have been all that bad! It may seem that the people at gyms don't really care about you, but that's just because they're all just super focused on themselves. They don't _hate_ you, they just let you have your own space."

"Maybe, but… ach," Weiss released a breath of stress and continued, "I just kept screwing up on all the machines, and-and I fell a couple times when something went wrong, and I looked like a total novice."

"Well, _duh_, you can't just expect to do everything all willy-nilly – you've got to get help from someone who knows better! Don't they have professional trainers there?" Once more, Yang's cheerful face and comforting words of wisdom overtook Weiss's thoughts. '_What I'm trying to say is that I can help out'… she almost sounded like this wasn't just something she could do, but something she _wanted _to do…_

"There was one that talked with me for a bit, but…" The heiress paused, realizing that she lacked any real excuse for that detail, "Never mind that, the point is that this whole idea was just a waste of time, a-and I have more pressing matters to attend to." She went to reach into her backpack for her books and laptop with the intention of throwing herself into anything else besides this conversation, but her roommate was not so easily ignored.

"Oh, come _on_, Weiss!" Ruby's voice lost its encouraging tone from earlier, irritation taking its place. "You literally just went to that gym once, without knowing what to do there, and you think _that's_ enough for you to determine whether or not it's a waste of your time? I know you really don't want to go, but you _need_ this! You've been such a bundle of stress recently, and you need something vigorous to shake all of that off." Weiss opened her mouth to speak, but the brunette raised palm in front of her to stop her from speaking and continued, her voice softening to a tender plea, "Just give it a full week to see it helps, okay? If it doesn't work out in the end, that's fine, I'll shut up about it and it'll be as if it never happened."

The Schnee girl sat at her desk in silence, allowing herself to think about what Ruby had said. As much as she was loath to return to the gym, it would mean that her energetic roommate would finally shut up about this whole thing. Plus, a week is not a long time at all; she would go two, _maybe_ three times at most, and it would all be over. Still, there was never a lack of other things to attend to in her life. She should return her focus to her studies again and continue working towards acing all of her courses and perhaps even place at the top of her class. If she worked hard enough at the university, she could even graduate early and start working at her family's massive tech company and earn a handsome salary. Indeed, being the heiress also meant that Weiss was almost guaranteed to start out in a high-ranking position, with as many as hundreds of people looking up to her for leadership – surely that's what she wanted? _Of course that's what I want! This is my duty as the future head of the Schnee family,_ Weiss told herself, attempting to convince herself that her actions were exactly what she wanted, an exercise she all too often found herself performing. _It would make Father happy, at the very least, and if he's happy, I'll be happy… I hope… oh, Dust, I hope it will be worth it._ As Weiss was about to plunge deeper into dark thoughts, the image of the golden-haired trainer's unassuming smile caught her at the precipice. She remembered her warm aura, her simple and comfortable demeanor, and those lilac eyes… _it's almost like they wanted me…_

"Yooooo, Weissy, are you going to answer me or not?" Ruby waved her hand in front of her pensive roommate, who jumped with a start at the sudden intrusion of her personal space.

"Well… I'll give it another try."

"Yay!" Ruby cheered, throwing her arms around Weiss in a tight embrace. "I knew you would say 'yes!'"

"Ruby…" Weiss managed to say while her lungs were being crushed by her roommate's hug, "I think that if you want me to live to see tomorrow and continue this gym thing, I'd suggest you don't break my rib cage." The brunette immediately relaxed her grip and stood back up.

"He he, sorry, got a bit excited again. It's just… I know this will be super good for you. I've got a strong feeling about his, I guarantee it!"

"We'll have to see about that," Weiss replied plainly, but she internally crossed her fingers. _I hope you're right._

* * *

_EDITOR: CatharticKnightmare_

* * *

**A little bit early, yes - I wanted to give a little extra exposition before my end-of-the-week update, this time, from Weiss's perspective! Isn't she just a bundle of joy? Also, yes, there's some Lancaster action in here for those of you that enjoy that dorky pairing :P**

**Please leave a review - hearing your feedback is very important and helpful for me! See y'all soon~**


	3. Chapter 3

After all her deliberation about whether or not she was going to go, Weiss finally found herself standing at the towering entrance to the gym. It easily stood out from the rest of the residences and small shops around there, as it was lined with giant, tinted windows with bands of yellow in between all the panes and complete with the name "GOLD'S GYM" wrapped around the building – Weiss bet that she could see the sign from three blocks away. It would be impossible for her to turn back and lie to her roommate about how she'd lost her way there. The white-haired girl sighed. _Well, I guess there's no turning back now, huh. _She pushed through the double doors and went inside.

It did not take long for Weiss to find where her trainer was. Unsurprisingly, she was in the middle of a workout, likely trying to get in her own exercise before attending to her trainee. Weiss took this moment to survey her – she had to admit, Yang had an amazing body. She had the strong legs and firm abs that many girls who frequent the gym build, certainly, but the blonde also had arms and shoulders powerful enough to put some of the men in the gym to shame. However, that is not to say that she lacked womanly features; Yang boasted an ample chest – which definitely did not make Weiss feel insecure about her own little breasts – and a golden mane of hair that, even when tied back, reached the trainer's waist. Everything about her was just so…big. Of course, what Weiss noticed the most about her were her shining amethyst eyes, which were now looking right back at her.

"Hellooooo!" Yang greeted brightly from across the gym, springing up from the exercise bench and walking over toward her, "It's Weiss, isn't it?"

"Oh, good memory." Weiss spoke with only moderate surprise at the blonde remembering her name, as they had just met the day prior and she, being a Schnee, was used to being memorable.

"Hard to forget the name of the girl who practically trashed the gym trying to figure out the worst ways of using the equipment."

"You told me not to worry about it!"

"Well, yeah, that was mostly because I was just trying to be nice to you. Plus, people usually clean up after themselves, and I was kinda hoping you might actually have done that, since I had to stay after my shift was over to put everything back in order." Weiss, flush with embarrassment and shame, attempted to stammer out an apology before Yang stopped her with a hand on her shoulder and laughed it off. "It's okay, I got paid extra anyway – I just wanted to pick on you a bit."

The heiress groaned. "Do you do that with _everyone_ you meet?"

"Nope! My grade-A teasing is reserved for only the finest of customers!" Yang said proudly.

"…I'm just going to go ahead and take that as a compliment," Weiss sighed while the blonde giggled away, "Anyway, what exactly are we doing today?"

"Well, seeing as you're brand new to this whole gym thing, I figure that I'd start you off with a tour of the whole place, and then we'll get to the real deal. Sound good?"

Before she could give her reply, the heiress found herself being whisked away by her zealous trainer. Yang zipped around the place, stopping almost every five feet to show off what seemed to be every single bit of machinery and equipment and to explain their functions and recommended uses. This information, naturally, went in one ear and out the other, but that wasn't what captured Weiss's attention so – it was how she was talking about it. The only other time she heard anyone babble about something this excitably before was when Ruby built her own computer from scratch and had decided to regale Weiss with the backstory of how she acquired _every_ single part and why each part was so integral to the whole. While she knew nothing of what Yang was going on about, she couldn't help but envy her enthusiasm; after all, everything that the Schnee heiress ever did – her classes, her hobbies, and even her choice in friends – was mandated by the will of her family. Hell, she didn't even know what she herself wanted to do. Did she even want to be here herself? No, of course not, it was her roommate that pressured her to go, just like with everything in the past, but... at least she enjoyed hearing someone talking about the things that make them happy.

"…and that concludes Yang's Super Speedy Gym Tour! Any questions?" Her sudden question shook Weiss from her thoughts.

"Er… no, I think I have the general layout dow-"

"Awesome! It's time to start the workout, then!" Yang exclaimed, "Let's start with something basic, like… ah! The bench press! That ought to be a good start."

The white-haired girl in tow was none too pleased with this sudden jump into the workout experience, especially with something that seemed as tough as the bench press. _I mean, that is more of a "guy" exercise than anything, right? All these guys at school keep bragging about how much they can bench or whatever when they talk to me, even if I do not give a single shit about them._ She finally spoke up, "I don't think this is such a good idea… should we not try to start with something a little more light, like some jogging?"

Yang stopped in her tracks and turned around with an accusatory look on her face. "Are you trying to cop out of this?"

"N-no, just… well… I just think that this might be a bit much. I mean," she gestured at herself, "do I _look_ like someone who can lift?"

"Not with that kind of attitude," the blonde teased, "Look, I'm not expecting any miracles to happen today, but I do want you to try. Besides, no one starts strong; you have to earn your strength, just like I did and everyone else in this room did, through sweat and will."

"Right, right, practice makes perfect, I got it," Weiss replied, barely hiding her sarcasm. _Great, this is no different from the Schnee work ethic that my family taught me,_ she thought,_ Thanks, Ruby, this was _just _what I needed to become less stressed._ Apparently, her thoughts were bleeding through, as Yang considered her with inquisitive eyes. The trainer did not mention anything about, though, and instead carried on with her little spiel.

"Alright then, princess," she paused just so she could see the girl's annoyed reaction, "let's get some practice done, shall we?" Weiss had not realized that, during all that time in which she was thinking about how much she really, _really_ did not want to start lifting, the pair had already found themselves right next to an open bench. "Do you know how this works?"

"Of course I do!" the heiress said with indignation, "it's just raising and lowering the bar above your chest, right?"

"Pretty much, yeah. Of course, there's a little bit more nuance to it than just moving the bar, but we'll get to that later. Why don't you show me what you can do?"

The trainee, seeing that there was no way out of this, reluctantly lay down on the bench and gripped the bar. She did not even want to think about how many sweaty men had rested on this very bench – yet another reason she was so unenthusiastic about weight-lifting. _Still,_ she offered to herself, _it is inevitable that I would get a little gross, so there isn't any sense to getting all worked up about it._ After clearing her mind of how unclean the whole thing was, Weiss finally grabbed the bar and heaved it up off the rest. To her surprise, it turned out to be far lighter than she'd imagined. _Hey, maybe I _can_ do this!_ She then went through the motions of the exercise, finishing off the set after ten repetitions.

"You know, that wasn't too bad!" Weiss then turned to her trainer proudly, "So, how's that for strength?"

"That was alright – for a warm-up. If you really want to get anything done, we're going to have to up the weights." Not exactly what the heiress wanted to hear. For just a brief moment, Weiss had hoped that perhaps this whole workout thing might not be too bad at all, but it looked like Yang was not about to go easy on her. The blonde returned with a small weight in each hand. "Let's try these on next. They're 10 pounds each, so it's nothing major, but we'll see how well you can handle them." She then added with a wink, "Hopefully, you'll still have that same gusto from earlier!"

_Fat chance._ In any case, Weiss prepared herself for the next set, figuring that if she tried the same way as before, there shouldn't be a problem. However, after counting to three in her head and pushing up against the bar, the metal mass only hovered slightly above the rest before her arms gave away.

"You put too much on there! Is there something a little lighter that I can try?"

Yang stood above her for a moment, hand on her mouth as she contemplated something. "I know what's going on – your form is a bit off. Here, try to set yourself up for the lift, but don't actually move." When she crouched down, Weiss once again assumed the position from before, but right as she settled in, something warm and soft tickled her back, causing her to jolt upward on reflex. Alarmed, the heiress wrenched her head to face the perpetrator.

"What the hell are you doing?!" she yelped. However, Yang simply looked at her with a completely innocent face.

"You weren't arching your back just then," the trainer stated matter-of-factly, "which means that you can't lift nearly as much as you could. When you lift the bar with an arched back instead of a flat one, you both have a better base for support and make your chest muscles work more, which are the muscles that are exerting the most force in a bench press. Here, let me show you how it's done." Once again, she used her hand to direct Weiss's back into the proper arched position, but this time the heiress let the blonde guide her. She didn't dare to say it aloud, but she enjoyed the sensation of the hand on her lower back. It burned with a heat she never thought possible in a person, a soothing warmth that relaxed the muscles wherever it touched. Weiss also couldn't resist how soft yet stable it was, moving her with a gentle confidence. She almost wished that those hands caress her for hours to come, touching her in all her gentle sp- _whoa there, Weiss, calm down. Now's not the time for those kind of thoughts._ Snapping out of her trance, she realized that she had an exercise to do. Sure enough, Yang's advice worked, for she, with some difficulty, managed to finish one more set before her arms once more surrendered their strength.

"See? Just a little bit of a position change, and suddenly you realize that you're stronger than you think!" the blonde encouraged, her characteristic cheerful smile returning to her face.

"I feel… I feel like this… this is going to hurt a lot sometime soon," Weiss breathed out between gasps for air, feeling the strain in her limbs.

Yang's cheerfulness slowly turned to mischief. "Oh, we're just getting started, princess." Her voice was filled with a foreboding that made Weiss swallow.

The two girls continued around the gym, bouncing from one machine or bench to the next, Weiss learning a new exercise in each place, with varying success. In most cases, many of her shortcomings came from a lack of proper posture while performed any given exercise, meaning that Yang had to constantly mold her into the right position. Naturally, the proud heiress found this slightly humiliating, seeing as she never seemed to be getting anything right, but at the same time, she secretly enjoyed the blonde's touch guiding her. There are only a handful of people in this world which she would permit to be in physical contact with her– namely her mother, her sister, and (reluctantly) Ruby – but for some reason, Weiss had no issue with having essentially an almost total stranger feeling her body. Perhaps it was just a simple comfort, much like a blazing hearth might be, or perhaps it was something more…

"Okay, just one more thing to do before we can officially call an end to your first workout!" Yang declared, her voice revealing no loss of enthusiasm. When she didn't get a response, she swung around to see the girl slumped over the fly machine, panting and looking thoroughly worn out. "Oh, don't give up on me now, princess, we're almost at the end!"

"Just… give me… a moment…" she wheezed, raising a finger as a command to wait up for her. After about a minute, she gathered herself and… well, "walking" would be a generous way of describing how she hobbled over toward her trainer. "Okay, alright, I think I'm ready for the final… whatever we're doing."

"Gueeeesss," Yang said in a sing-song voice, hopping around the…

"…squat rack." Weiss answered flatly.

"Oh, don't be such a downer! We haven't done as much with legs so far, so you won't be overworking anything we've already covered," she reassured, "However, posture is SUPER important here, because if you screw that up, you can do some serious damage to your back. Because of that, I'm going to go ahead and do a couple reps of these for ya, just so you can see how it's done."

"Sure thing. I'll be right here," came the breathy reply. Weiss had propped herself up on the adjacent power rack in an effort to keep herself from falling over – she was not about to embarrass herself two days in a row.

"Alright, now watch my form. Feet shoulder width apart, the bar resting on the back of the shoulders, but not quite on the neck, because that's going to cause undue stress, alright? Now bring down the bar slowly, keeping your chest straight and…"

Yang continued to give her directions on what to observe while she performed the squats, but Weiss's attention soon shifted to watching the blonde's body in motion. However, the heiress did not notice the proper technique that Yang was demonstrating, instead taking in… just Yang herself. She already knew that this buxom blonde had a natural beauty to her, but seeing it in action simply enraptured her. Seeing all the muscles, shimmering with sweat, tense and relax as she rose and fell mesmerized her. Her legs, her back, her arms, everything seemed to ripple with raw power, and yet that strength didn't detract from her beauty – rather, it added to it. Weiss let her eyes wander over her body until– _okay, wow, she wasn't kidding, that is fantastic ass._ She saw how Yang pushed it in and out in each squat, almost showing it off on purpose. All of this set her mind on fire, and she had no idea how these feelings were taking over her thoughts. _Okay, Weiss, calm down, this is not okay, you can't seriously be lusting after someone like this, that's just so unbecoming of you. Just… take a deep breath, focus on what she's trying to show you, or just look at something else. Yes, anything but the-_Unfortunately, in her attempt to refocus, her eyes found something in the mirror: as it turned out, whether Yang bent over with each squat, she could catch a glimpse down her very loose tank top. Suddenly, her legs lost their strength and her vision blacked out. _Fuck._

* * *

_EDITOR: CatharticKnightmare_

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**Geez, Weiss, haven't you ever heard the phrase "if looks could kill"? Come back next week to see what becomes of our frail trainee! As always, feedback is greatly appreciated**

**I also want to give a special shout-out to the one and only CatharticKnightmare, who has expertly edited my work (or gutted it like a fish) so far – thank you so much!**


	4. Chapter 4

**UPDATE**

**SO, my spring break has finally come, and I'm going to be travelling a fair bit, which means that I won't be able to update this tomorrow or next Friday. This sucks, I know, but I will still take time to get some writing in so that once I come back, I'll have another chapter ready as soon as I get back - Saturday night to Sunday-ish. And boy, oh boy, the plans I have in story for y'all - things are gonna start to heat up ****_real_**** soon ;) One might say that you will... "feel the burn." Eh? Eh? I swear I'm funny, y'all**

**Anyway, before I go, I just want to go ahead and thank you all for following this little project of mine - you folks are awesome and keep me motivated to write more and more! Until the next time~**

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_THUD_

The blonde almost dropped the bar at this unexpected sound from behind her, but she calmly lowered it to the resting position before turning to see the source of the noise. She figured that some careless idiot forgot to clip their weights onto their bar or attempted to lift something far heavier than they were capable of. To her surprise, though, no such thing seemed to have happened – many of the other patrons were looking in her direction, their expressions a mixture of curiosity and worry. _Strange, I didn't drop anything. What's up with all these people? Now, Weiss on the other hand might have…_Yang's train of thought screeched to a halt when she finally realized who was missing from the picture. _Weiss. Shit. Where _is _she? _It then dawned on her that everyone wasn't exactly looking at her, but rather at her feet. Slowly, she followed their lines of sight until she finally saw the petite girl collapsed on the floor. Again. But unlike the last time Yang found her there, she was definitely not conscious.

_Crap, crap, crap, I pushed her too far! I got so carried away with teaching those exercises, I forgot how tired she was. _The buxom trainer cursed herself for her negligence as she rushed to Weiss's side, immediately going to check her vitals. She held her fingers to the collapsed girl's throat, relieved to feel that her pulse was still going in a regular rhythm, albeit slightly weaker than it should be. _Low blood pressure… that's weird, if anything her pressure should be higher because of exercise, _Yang wondered. _Maybe she stood up too fast or something? _As she continued to think on what could have possibly made her trainee pass out, she moved her hand underneath her nose to see if she was still breathing, finding affirmation when she felt the girl's gentle breaths flow over her fingers.

Slowly and drowsily, Weiss's eyes began to open up, sending a wave of relief over the woman looking after her. Certainly, she'd already confirmed that the white-haired girl was alive, but Yang had feared that she might have been in a coma. Or paralyzed. Or hemorrhaging. Or perhaps even-

"Weiss? Weiss? Can you hear me? How are you feeling? Are you okay? Anything hurt? Do we need to get you to a hospital?" If no one else knew any better, they would think Yang was coddling a small child.

The reply came slowly, but it didn't lack the characteristic bite. "What are you talking about, you buffoon..? I'm fine, really, I don't see what you're prattling on abo-" Apparently, it just dawned on her what kind of situation she was in, as her eyes widened in horror and she shot up like a coiled spring. Her head swung right, left, taking quick snapshots of her surroundings before burying her head in her palms.

"Oh, Dust, I did it again."

"Did what?"

"Make a fool of myself. And this is only my second time setting foot in this place! Honestly, how could I let myself be this clumsy…"

The blonde placed her hand on Weiss's slumped shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. "Hey now, if anything, it was me that screwed up. I pushed you too hard on your first ever workout. If anything, _I_ought to be the one who's embarrassed, since I wasn't paying enough attention to my trainee to notice that you were getting so fatigued that you might faint. After all, as much as you're here to take care of your body, I'm here to do the same."

Weiss opened her mouth to speak, but then paused before any words came out. A moment passed, and she settled upon giving a quiet "thanks". Yang wasn't exactly sure why the heiress thanked her after she had just explained why the current situation was her fault, but she decided not to argue and instead offered her hand to once more pick up this girl from the floor. Weiss took it without a word and with the blonde's help righted herself.

"Well, I think it's safe to call it a day. We've seen pretty much everything I wanted to show you here, plus we did almost 50 minutes of exercises of all sorts," Yang started as she headed to the locker rooms. "Normally, that's still not quite enough time for a full workout, but I think for you, especially since I've put you a little out of sorts today, this will be enough."

"But don't I still have that one last exercise to do?" Weiss asked, having not moved from her spot next to the squat racks.

"Yeah, there were those squats, but I think it would be best to leave those for next time. You've done plenty today."

"No. I am going to finish them."

The trainer stopped in her tracks and turned to look at Weiss with a cocked eyebrow. Yang could have sworn that the girl before her would have loved to get away from this gym as soon as possible – the heiress herself knew that she did something klutzy every time she had come so far – but the look in her eyes said otherwise. They were those same determined eyes that she had remembered seeing when Weiss first stepped onto the gym floor, filled with purpose and resolve. Whatever gripes she had before about working out seemed to not matter anymore to her, as if something else was driving the heiress. Still, as far as Yang was concerned, she was in no condition to continue exercising.

"Weiss, I'm glad that you want to complete your workout, but you don't have to prove anything, really. You're worn out, and I can't in good conscience let you do something that might get yourself hurt."

"I am going to finish what I started." Although Yang was not someone to be easily intimidated, Weiss spoke with a voice far more imposing than her stature would suggest. The buxom woman sighed. _It's no use, she's got her mind set on this – must be in her Schnee blood or something._

"Alright, I'll humor you," she said while heading back to Weiss, "but don't complain if you pass out on the floor in the middle of a rep."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Weiss replied, scowling at the thought. She moved to the rack which Yang had been using, placing the bar on the back of her shoulders just as it was demonstrated.

Unsurprisingly, squats turned out to be quite the struggle for the white-haired girl. Even though Yang left on her warm-up weights – 20 pounds on each side of the bar – they were more than a match for the tiny Weiss, who practically growled under the strain. With one look at her face, contorted from all the effort she was putting in, Yang couldn't help but snicker.

"You know, if need me to help, I can stand behind you and spo-"

"T-that won't be necessary!" Weiss said quickly.

"Oh?" Yang was just trying to be helpful, but she knew a good opportunity to tease someone when she saw one. "You know, any of the guys here would kill for the opportunity to be that close to me, with my hands holding their sides, and my boo-"

"_Thank you,_ no. Honestly, is this what I'm going to have to deal with every day…" Her voice trailed off into a mumble as she continued her attempt at squats, her indignation sending Yang into another fit of giggles. Nevertheless, despite the struggle, Weiss managed in the end to actually squeeze out a full set of squats. Granted, 10 wasn't anything to be terribly impressed with, but considering that this girl had only a few minutes ago been lying collapsed on the floor, the blonde was still taken aback by the fortitude Weiss demonstrated_. Perhaps she has the makings of a gym rat after all,_ she mused,_although_… she noticed how the heiress draped herself over the squat rack, tongue hanging out as she panted for breath, clearly indicating that despite whatever potential she might have, she was quite thoroughly spent for the day. She smiled at the sight, not out of mockery this time, but rather out of appreciation. _Yeah, this princess might whine and moan, but in the end, she's got a mind of steel. She wants this to work._ An idea suddenly popped into her head, and her smile grew wider. _I think some positive reinforcement is in order_.

Yang walked over to the exhausted Weiss. "Well now, I didn't think you had it in you to push yourself."

The worn-out girl raised her head just enough to meet her trainer's eyes. "I never leave anything unfinished," she declared coolly. "That's just the way I operate."

"That's good to hear, because there's just one more thing we've got to do."

As fatigued as she was, somehow even more energy seemed to drain from her trainee's expression. "What?! I thought all I needed to do was this one stupid exercise and I'd be through."

"First of all, you brought that 'stupid exercise' on yourself – I was happy with letting you free originally, but apparently you're a masochist at heart," Yang said, directing a smirk at Weiss. "Besides, you'll love it!"

"Really?" came the flat response. "Just like how I'll love the chest press? Or the fly machine?"

Yang pondered on this with a sagely expression for moment before answering. "Nah, this'll be even better. Everyone thinks so!"

Weiss let out a sigh, not wanting to be led around too much longer. "Alright, what is it?"

"Food!"

The heiress looked at her with a blank expression. "What."

"Food, you dumb-dumb! After any workout or exercise, the muscles in your body are all torn up, so it's the perfect time to eat lots of protein to help repair and build new muscles. That's how people go from having arms like yours to having guns like mine." To emphasize this point, the blonde flexed her arms, which Weiss stared at wide-eyed for a second before letting out an annoyed grunt. "Also, you burnt a lot of calories in the past hour or two, so you need to get all that back in order to not crash… again."

"You really enjoy tormenting me, don't you?"

"Only a little bit. But I'm not kidding – you really do need food. It'll be my treat!"

The petite girl raised her eyebrow questioningly. "Your treat? You make it sound like I'm getting rewarded for something."

"Well, of course, you just finished your first day of training with me!"

"I don't think I really did anything impressive enough to warrant a prize or something."

"No, no, you definitely deserve this. To be honest, I didn't think you'd even show up here to begin with. You just seemed so… sullen yesterday, and from what I gathered, you didn't seem like the kind of person who wanted help, so you coming in today came as a bit of surprise – but a good one. Plus, it turns out that you're actually quite the headstrong gal, finishing what you started even when you aren't in the greatest physical condition and when you didn't have to."

"But that doesn't mean anything," Weiss said logically, "it's not like I carried 200 pounds on my shoulders or something else notable. An award is something you get for perfection, not simply passing."

"Ah, see, that's where you're wrong. There is no perfection when it comes to exercise. There's always another step, another weight to add on, another trial to undertake, so "perfection" really lies in the will to move forward. You won't ever be perfect – hell, I'm certainly never going to be perfect – but it's in those moments, just like when you went for that extra set, that you'll achieve something like it." Yang paused, looking to Weiss's face and finding something she couldn't quite read. The heiress gave a small, careful smile, but her eyes were not focused on her, indicating that her mind was elsewhere – wherever that might be, Yang couldn't guess, but she wasn't planning on letting Weiss mull over her words for too long. More importantly, it was about 4:30, and Yang hadn't had food since noon.

"Alright, enough of that – time to chow!" Without another word, the eager blonde grabbed Weiss's arm and started running toward the exit, ignoring the sudden cries of distress behind her.

* * *

Yang stepped into her apartment with a great yawn. Usually, it took a lot to get the trainer tired, but this day in particular had worn her out more than most; between taking extra time to help her new trainee, then treating her to a late lunch, and then returning to complete her own workout. All the little things added up, and the crimson light shining through the room ahead told her that it was close to sunset already. Still, she'd made it home.

The apartment was surprisingly modest, especially considering the boisterous personality of its inhabitant, but Yang didn't like to spend too much of her money on decorations – it didn't help that she also lacked much taste, as her rooms in the past have often ended up looking awfully tacky. Complimenting this was her messiness, which could be noted from any cursory scan of the place. As often was the case, many of her clothes, dirty and clean, were strewn about the place, but it was at a reasonable level – she cleaned the apartment every weekend without fail, and everything lying about was the accumulation of a week's worth of laundry, with some dishes scattered here and there. Otherwise, the apartment was very welcoming: Yang had no shortage of couches and bean bag chairs for people to lounge around in; it sported a thick carpet, the kind one's toes might wiggle around and sink into; and the walls assaulted the eyes with a bright, happy yellow hue. The best part of the place in Yang's opinion, though, was the living room wall, which was make up almost entirely of giant window panes facing the south. Not many people would notice this detail, but Yang was always very particular about the windows of a house faced, since she always adamant about getting the most sunlight into the rooms – she loved it when the first rays of the morning sun peek through the curtains to wake her up, and it also saved her a few lien on the monthly electricity bills. All in all, the apartment suited her brilliantly.

The first thing Yang did when she set foot in the living room was to let herself fall face first onto one of the couches with a low moan. She had pushed herself extra hard on her last few sets of crunches, and she could already feel the burn in her abs. _Man, am I going to feel this one tomorrow._ She was in no mood to move around for a while, which gave her plenty of time to think about her day, Weiss in particular.

"_So where are we going?" Weiss had asked._

"_A Simple Wok! It's this little ramen shop just a few blocks away. You'll love it!"_

"_Are you sure? A lot of these places tend to have quite low sanitation scores, and don't they overcharge you all the time?"_

"_Nope and nope – I've been to this place for a _long_ time now, so trust me when I say it's good." Yang's voice had a hint of nostalgia in it. She then added jokingly, "Don't worry, princess, I'm not planning on giving you food poisoning."_

"_For the last time, it's 'heiress!' Is that so hard to remember?"_

"_Not really, but I think 'princess' sounds better."_

"…_you really think so?"_

"_And you act like one a lot."_

"_Hey! What if I came up with an annoying nickname for you, how would you feel then?"_

_A sly grin crawled across Yang's face. "Try me."_

"_Well, fine, you… you big, stupid oaf!"_

"_Oooo, good one, Weiss," Yang said, completely unfazed, "but the only way I'm stupid is stupid hot." She then proceeded to touch her ass and make a sizzling noise. The petite girl merely grumbled and hit herself on the forehead._

"_Why do I even try… oh yeah, by the way, when you said that you've been to this ramen place a long time, you made it sound like you've almost grew up with it or something."_

"_Aren't you the perceptive one?" The blonde couldn't decide whether to sound condescending or genuinely impressed that Weiss was able to pick up on subtle hints like that. "Yeah, when I was still in grade school, my dad used to take me and my sister to A Simple Wok all the time whenever we got good grades on our report cards. Even if only one of us did well – I usually got low marks in science and history – we both got rewarded. At first, I thought this was just my dad trying to be nice and not leaving one of us out, but now I see that was actually being quite clever - by tying our successes together, we came to appreciate each other more."_

"_That's… nice," Weiss responded plainly. Yang noticed that her companion seemed to be slipping into her thoughts._

"_Well, it was, but now that she's in college, do I hear a single peep from her? Nooooooo, that would be asking for too much." She let out a harsh click of her tongue. "Anyway, we're here!"_

_The pair were greeted by an older gentleman with greying hair and a raspy voice, but Yang of course knew him as Fu Wong, the proprietor of A Simple Wok for as long as she could remember. They shook hands like old friends before the blonde started to show the different options on the menu for Weiss to look at. The heiress foolishly asked if Wong served any salads._

"_Whoa, whoa, whoa, Weiss, you're not here to munch on greens – I'm going to get you the biggest bowl they have here, 'cause from the looks of it," Yang quickly glanced up and down Weiss's small form, "you're gonna need it."_

"_Would that be two Grand Mistrals, then?" Wong asked._

"_Wait, hold on! Just how big is the Grand Mistral?"_

_Yang held up her hands at almost shoulder width, causing Weiss's jaw to drop._

"_Oh Dust… how… I can't even…"_

"_Don't worry, after a workout, you'd be surprised how much you can eat. Now, do you want chicken, beef, or pork?"_

_Weiss looked like she didn't want to argue anymore. "…chicken, please."_

_When they finally got their meals, the heiress stared at her bowl apprehensively, dreading the thought finishing all its contents. Yang, on the other hand, already began to shovel noodles and meat into her mouth. After eating merrily for a good five minutes, she turned over to her partner, who was still prodding at the food before her with uncertainty._

"_What's the matter? Never seen noodles before?"_

"_No, it's just… it's just so much. I couldn't possibly eat it all."_

"_Well, while I'd appreciate if you finished it, since I did pay for you, don't feel like you have to be in a hurry. Just get what you can."_

_Weiss said nothing, returning her gaze to the meal in front of her. Slowly, she took her chopsticks and started to twirl a few noodles in them and then finally take a bite. She chewed slowly, deliberately, as if to fully assess the taste before swallowing it. She sat there on the stool for a while, waiting for the food to digest, and then… well, the last time Yang had ever seen anyone devour food that quickly was when she found out that her sister had gone through the whole cookie jar in 20 minutes._

"_So… what did you think, Weiss?"_

"_That… was… the best… ever…" she slurred out, already starting to slip into a food coma. Yang and Wong both burst out in laughter at the compliment._

Yang smiled upon remembering that. It was a funny memory, sure, but that wasn't the reason Yang felt so warm thinking about it. No, it was because it was the first time Yang had seen this girl, so far so glum and cold, genuinely happy. The blonde wouldn't honestly have thought that the little Schnee had that kind of voracious appetite, but perhaps she was like most girls her age who starve themselves to look thinner than they ought to be, and she had to suppress the hunger of a dozen lions. Perhaps it was the first time in a while that she'd indulged herself. _She should let herself be loose and free more often. Free..._

_Oh, Dust, I didn't schedule her next workout!_ Yang sat up with a start and immediately pulled out her scroll to send her a message. Of course, Weiss's name is all the way towards the bottom of the alphabet, and the buxom blonde has picked up her fair share of friends, acquaintances, friends-with-benefits, and hook-ups over the years so that it was actually something of a bother to scroll through her lengthy contact list. _Oh, please, Yang, if that's the worst of your problems, you're doing real good for yourself,_ she thought, laughing at the ridiculousness of that idea. She started to absent-mindedly flick the screen up and up with her thumb, seeing all the names zip by, until one of them caught her attention, one that she had almost completely forgot about: **Kitty-Cat**.

Naturally, this wasn't the actual name of the person, but even so, seeing it caused Yang to freeze. This person… Yang had not seen her in a very long time, let alone heard from her. Years ago, they were quite close, but certain events transpired, and, well, they stopped being close. _Gosh, how long has it been? Three, four years? I wonder if she's still-_

The woman slumped over in the couch shook those thoughts out of her head. "That was another time, girly," Yang told herself before finally reaching Weiss's name in the contact list.

* * *

_EDITOR: CatharticKnightmare_

* * *

**Hmm, "Kitty-Cat"… you know, if I was a betting man – which I'm not – but ****_if_**** I was, I'd venture to guess that this girl's name is Cat as in Catherine. Or Katarina. Yep. Probably just some crummy OC character.**

**Alright, I'm a few days late, and I really want to apologize for this! Last week, I came down with a nasty stomach virus, and when I wasn't hovering over the toilet, I was catching up on the work I had missed. But hey, I'm back now, and with an even longer chapter this time! I hope y'all enjoy and stay tuned for whatever shenanigans might be afoot next week. And as always, thank you all for reviewing and following this story – it means the world to me :)**


	5. Chapter 5

A person could read over the same passage only so many times before all the words within started to lose meaning. Weiss leaned over her textbooks and notes, rubbing her temples as she once again poured over the mechanics of an elimination reaction in organic compounds. Or was it substitution? She could barely keep track at that point. It was something about charged ions changing their orientation on a carbon chain – that much was certain – but there were all these rules and exceptions to those rules and all sorts of-

"Argh!"

The heiress kicked away from the desk and glided across the dimly-lit library in a rolling chair, letting herself spin whichever way as she ran her fingers through her uncharacteristically messy hair. No amount of energizing coffee, no genre of focusing music, no kind of rigorous self-discipline could take the edge off how dull her studies were. Sure, compared to most other students at Beacon, Weiss had a much stronger grasp on chemistry and consistently scored in the top 10 percent on her exams, but that was all to be expected. After all, Weiss Schnee was in line to take over Schnee Tech once her father finally decided to retire, and no CEO worth their salt would ever consider leading their company without a high level of knowledge in all the disciplines under them. How could she make informed decisions for the corporation if she could not even figure out what the lowest intern working in the labs might be doing wrong? No, if this pint-sized girl were ever to be taken seriously in the business world, she had an obligation to continue her heavy academic load. Nevertheless, that sort of motivation could only push her so far. All those formulas and charts and lengthy tables about when to use one equation or another meant absolutely nothing to her at times, and it took a lot of patience for her to drill that information into her head. Weiss felt far more at home with reading a historical text or writing a paper on the evolution of Valean economics over the centuries, something, anything that engaged her critical and analytic mind – but alas, for that night, she was condemned to repetitive exercises from her chemistry book.

Ruby, on the other hand, seemed to be having a much better time with her studies. Sitting across from her stressed roommate, she held her laptop on her stomach while leaning back in her chair (_not_the kind with wheels – she almost went to the hospital the last time she tried that), legs kicked up on the table, rocking back and forth to her music. Her oversized headphones were by far the brunette's most prized possession, allowing her to jump into her own world whenever she wanted to. At the moment, she seemed to be in a very happy place, as she rocked her head side to side while humming the tune with a serene smile. _Dust, I wish _I_ was a journalism major so all I had to do was read newspapers and write an editorial every now and again, _Weiss thought with a small amount of bitterness. _Still, I have my path, and she has hers – and mine is the one with the larger paycheck, isn't it?_ Regardless of what the heiress told herself, she couldn't help envy how peaceful that girl seemed. Ruby seemed to have noticed Weiss staring at her and raised her head to meet the pair of icy blue eyes.

"What'shup?" the chipper girl asked, nibbling on the eraser of her pencil.

"Oh, nothing," Weiss answered tiredly, "just zoning out."

"You've been doing a lot of that lately."

"Well, maybe you would understand why if you would take a look at my current assignment. I assure you that it's just as exciting as it sounds."

"Nooooooope," Ruby said, popping the "p" at the end, "I took my one required science course last semester, and it suuuucked. You can keep that… witchcraft to yourself."

"As long as you get why I've been so out of sorts recently."

"Got a big exam coming up soon or something?"

"This Friday, actually. Which means for the next…" Weiss craned her neck to check the time, "60 hours or so, I'm going to be holed up in this place."

"Weiss, that sounds terrible! Don't you have things to do, like, uh… classes and food and stuff?"

The heiress let out a humorless laugh. "Don't worry, my hyperactive companion, I won't be missing anything that important – it's just that in all my free time, I'll likely be holed up in here, like I am right now."

"What about going to the gym? Are you going to miss that too?"

The weary girl paused for a moment as if just remembering her new hobby before continuing. "Oh, that? Well… I told my trainer about this exam and that I had to skip a few days so I could focus on my studies. She told me not to worry, as my academic success should take priority over everything else. She's pretty reasonable, you know?"

Ruby frowned and sat up straight in her chair. "You're not wrong, but… well, just look at yourself. You're gonna drain all your energy if you keep up this kind of work ethic, just like you've been all year. Going to the gym was all about you getting a release for all that stress you're building up – it's even been working, too! I mean, yeah, you look super beat whenever you come back from there, but you still seem, like, content and stuff, happy almost. I just don't want you to start making excuses not to go, you know? First it'll start with this exam, and then you'll find something else to do in the meantime to prevent you from going, and, well, then you'll just stop going altogether. What then? You're going to go right back to square one and be all stressed out again, and… I just don't want you to lose something that's been this good to you."

Weiss dared not look directly into the pleading eyes of her roommate, choosing instead to look down at her textbook. In all honesty, she really didn't mind going to Gold's a few times every week. Sure, she could do without the soreness that always greeted her in the morning following a workout, but the heiress couldn't deny the rush she got when she was exercising. She pushed herself every time she was there, making sure to complete every set with proper form, testing herself with heavier and heavier weights – it was just like the kind of training she would do for school, but without all the pressure she was accustomed to. Weiss had Yang to thank for that, of course; the woman always drove her to improve her performance, but somehow she knew when it was time to take a break. Not only that, but she never criticized Weiss whenever she messed up, something that her overbearing parents were always so sure to point out. No, instead, the blonde would simply encourage her to work out the mistakes when she could, never rushing her. It was just so… comforting to be around the blonde. _It doesn't hurt that she has such a voluptuous bosom and as-_

"Weiss, are you blushing?"

"N-no, it just… it just got really warm all of a sudden," Weiss replied, pulling on her collar for added effect. It seemed to satisfy Ruby's curiosity.

"Huh, weird, I feel fine. Anyway, if you're not going to go work out, you should at least take a break and, I don't know, chill out for a while, unwind from all that work you're doing."

Weiss tilted her head back and pondered on what her roommate suggested for a moment. "I suppose I _could_ stop studying the evening before the exam. I've heard that people tend to perform better on tests when they don't do any last minute cramming, but I never figured to try it out. It could work." She ended her thought with a shrug.

"Yay! So, whatcha gonna do?"

"I… I don't know. I could read a book or something, maybe go for a walk around campus with some music."

"Oh, come on, that's so boring! You need to, like, do stuff with friends or whatever. How about Coco? Neptune? Ren and Nora? That study group of yours?"

Weiss tensed slightly before letting out a sigh. "Ren and Nora are nice enough, but they're always so involved with each other, and I would rather not be a third wheel. I do get along well with the people in the Chem group, though I don't really see them outside of our usual study sessions. Coco's just as busy as I am, so I rarely ever see her to begin with, and Neptune…"

"Oh, right! Sorry, I forget sometimes," the brunette said, scratching the back of her neck in embarrassment. "But still, there's got to be someone who you can hang out with for a few hours, right?"

"I noticed that you haven't suggested yourself yet. Not trying to get me off your hands, are you?"

"Ah, see..." Ruby continued nervously, "I would love to have some roommate bonding time, but tomorrow night is my date with Jaune."

"That's right, you've been harping all about it for the past week," Weiss said with a slight pang of disappointment. _While she's a bit much at times, Ruby would have been perfect_. "You're surprisingly calm, given how excited you've been."

Ruby pointed to her headphones. "Music! Still, my tummy is butterflies right now." Right after she finished speaking, her scroll went off, vibrating on the table. "Oh Dust, oh Dust, oh Dust, it's Jaune! I'm gonna have more butterflies again. Hold on, Weiss, I'll be right back!" The crimson girl zoomed out of the library with uncanny speed, leaving Weiss alone with her thoughts.

_Who else is there for me, really? I mean, if nothing else, I can always just watch movies online or browse Facebook or something. Just like always._ The heiress frowned at the thought. She had gone through most of her years in school without making many lasting connections with people. It wasn't that she hated being around people – in fact, Weiss saw herself as a very social person. She knew how to navigate all the social circles at Beacon, who to be seen with and who to avoid, and how to make small talk that made it seem like she cared. Nevertheless, there was never any substance in those relationships; Weiss had no one to support her when she was down, no one to make her feel at ease with the stressful world she lived in. Ruby came close, but she already had old friends from high school whom she constantly hung out with, and Weiss could hardly bring herself to cling onto her roommate's happiness. There was also her family, but she could find more cheerfulness in an iceberg.

**_You're forgetting someone_**, a little voice from somewhere inside her head chimed in.

_Oh really? And who would that be? _Weiss humored the voice, if only sardonically. When you're under so much constant pressure, it's only natural to develop a separate psyche to converse with.

**_Oh, no one special, of course. Just a certain hot, muscly blonde with whom you've been spending so much time over the past two weeks._**

Weiss froze. _Yang?! Are you kidding me? She's my trainer and I'm her trainee – that's all there is to our relationship._

**_You know you can't lie to your own mind, right? I know what you think of her every time you see that body, you naughty, naughty girl._**

_SHUT UP! Anyway, that's beside the point. We have a professional relationship, and it would hardly be fitting for me to ask her to be friends with me. I don't even know anything about her except that she's very excited about fitness and outgoing and optimistic and cheerful – pretty much the polar opposite of me._

**_And you want that._**

Weiss rubbed her temples, already starting to get weary of this mental debate. _You're not wrong, but…_

**_But what? You have nothing to lose. Worst case, she says that she can't spend an evening with you, and you can continue your "professional relationship" or whatever. On the other hand, you could have a fun, relaxing night with a new friend. Who knows, she might even be open to more._**

The heiress took a deep breath. _Fine, we'll see if this works out_. She reached into her handbag and pulled out her scroll, flicking through the names until she found "Yang Xiao Long" right at the bottom of the list. Weiss hesitated for a moment with her finger over the call button, anxious about what might happen, what Yang might think of her for asking this sort of thing. Before she could psych herself out, though, the nervous girl pressed the button and held the phone to her ear. Part of her almost wanted the call to go straight to the voicemail, so she could at least say that she tried without actually having to go through with this crazy idea. It would be sad, of course, for it to not work out but at least that way, Weiss was guaranteed not to deal with anything embarrassing. After a little less than a minute, she heard what she expected.

"We're sorry, but the number you are trying to reach is not available right now. Press '1' now to leave a call-back number, or press '2' to leave a voice mes-"

Weiss hung up before the automated reply could finish and slumped a little in her chair. _Well, what did I expect? She's a busy woman, she probably doesn't have the time to spend with one of her clients. At least I tried_. While not thrilled with the outcome, she didn't get hung up on it, as there were still plenty of chemistry notes to pour through, and the heiress had wasted enough time worrying about Yang that could have been spent reviewing the special relation between alkynes and boron ions. _How thrilling._

About half an hour passed by, and Weiss was getting into the groove of her studies. She breezed through page after page of notes at breakneck speed, never missing a single detail. She was about to start on the review exercises at the end of her textbook when her scroll rang. Nervously, she picked it up and her heart skipped a beat when she saw that it was Yang.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Weiss! Sorry that I couldn't call sooner, I was busy with a client and all. What's up? I thought you said you couldn't work out before Friday because you had that exam thing."

"Yeah, that's still happening, so no gym for me just yet."

"Well, okay." Yang clearly didn't get what was going on. "What's on your mind, then?"

"Actually…" Weiss started kicking the floor under the chair, spinning herself around as she tried to formulate her words coherently. She was determined not to mess this up. "I was planning on taking the evening off tomorrow to cool down a bit before my test, and… I was wondering if you were, uhhh… free then." She waited uneasily in the silence that followed. _Oh, Dust, here we go, she's going to think this is really weird! I knew this was a bad idea._

"Hmm… well, usually, I've got a client who comes in Thursday evenings around 6:30, but lately he's been skipping out, and quite frankly I'm tired of his shit. Aside from that, I'm pretty much open! You have something in mind to do?"

_Uh oh_. To be honest, Weiss didn't think she would get this far – she had been so worried about what might go wrong that she didn't even bother to consider what to do in case this plan worked out. Now that she was in this position, she had no idea what to suggest. "I… er… well..."

"Ooo, I know! We should see the midnight showing of 'Ten Little Roosters'! It's about a murder mystery that takes place in an ordinary office building with 10 people, 9 of which are guilty of some past crime and one of them is still out for blood! In the end, only one person can survive, but you don't know who it is! Plus, Michael Jones and Gavin Free are starring in it! It's gonna be super cool!"

"I know of Gavin, he's not a horrible actor, and the premise sounds interesting enough, but midnight is a bit late for me…"

"Ah, they just say midnight because it sounds cool. Actually, they're gonna show it at 11. When's your first class on Friday?"

"10 in the morning, and that's the class with the exam. I don't know if I'll have enou-"

"Perfect! You should be able to get enough sleep before your test, then." Weiss could practically hear the blonde beaming over the call. "Where do you want to meet up?"

"I'll…" The heiress was about to protest, but soon realized that there was no use arguing against someone with that kind of energy. Besides, this is what she wanted, right? "Just by the fountain in Aural Square. I think the closest theater to Beacon is around there, and since I'm going to go there on foot, I'd prefer that one."

"Sounds like a plan. I'll meet you there at 10:30. Might be a little late, but we'll see, shouldn't be too bad. Alright, gotta get back to work – see you later!"

"See you soon."

Several minutes passed by without Weiss moving a muscle. She didn't touch her books or look through her notes. She didn't even move the scroll from her ear. In fact, the only thing that changed about her was a slowly growing patch of scarlet on her cheeks.

* * *

_EDITORS: condor700 and Just_one_more__

* * *

**Well, hello, hello, hello! Guess who's finally back? I apologize for taking so long with this one, but right as I came back from my break, I got slammed with assignments (thanks, professors, love you too). Also, my previous editor had to step away for a while because of personal reasons, and it took a while to get someone new. However, thanks to Just_one_more_ and condor700, I got the job done!**

**Before I bounce, I have a couple things to announce. First, I'm changing my update schedule from weekly to biweekly. Originally, I set up the weekly plan just so I could guarantee consistent output for this story and discipline myself to keep doing this, but now I realize that that kind of schedule is incredibly stressful, especially since I'm starting to head into the end of my semester soon. While this does slow down this project a bit, I can still ensure that the quality of writing will stay just as is! Secondly, I'm bumping up the rating of this story from T to M (sorry, my younger readers). Over the break, I did a LOT of planning and outlining of this story and realized that the way I'm taking it has some subject matter that would require the mature rating. Nothing dark, of course, just… touchy. Also, I get to swear more! Woohoo! (I not planning on overdoing it lol)**

**Alright, that's all for now – see you all in two weeks, and thank you so much for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

Aural Square was one of those places that anyone who'd been in Vale for at least a week could point to. It wasn't exactly a major historical landmark, nor particularly different from the many other plazas that dotted the city, but its proximity to Beacon University made it a favorite haunt for students, and many shrewd businesses had set up shop around the place. As a result, Aural Square was alive and bustling with people at almost all times of day. Weiss was not particularly fond of being in such a public space, especially with so many students milling about, but she couldn't deny how convenient the location was. At the very least, with all the shops and lights lining the square and the grand fountain that she was sitting by, Aural made for a reasonably picturesque location. There were worse places to wait for someone.

While she didn't consider that evening to be something particularly special – this was no gala or important reception, at least – Weiss had dressed quite smartly for the occasion; a Schnee wouldn't be caught dead wearing anything but their best. Although springtime was right around the corner, the final chill of winter still hung in the air, so the heiress had donned a beige one-size-too-big sweater with a brown miniskirt and black leggings, complete with a voluminous brown scarf. All told, she looked like some sort of coffee-flavored dessert with cream on top – her long white hair had been done up into a neat little ponytail. Although she would never admit it to her pestering roommate, the heiress was anxious to look good for Yang. After all, first impressions are important, and while her trainer had obviously already seen her before, tonight would be the first time they met up as, well, just regular people. Weiss was hesitant to use the word "friend", as she didn't want to assume that their relationship had already reached that place after only a short few days.

A thundering noise came from up the street leading into the square, a low rumble that seemed to be getting closer and closer. Weiss turned her head in the direction of the sound, curious to see who or what would cause such a commotion this late in the evening, and noticed a light starting to creep around a bend in the road. _Of course, reckless driving on a Thursday night_, she thought, rolling her eyes._ How typical._ Many students at the university made it a point to have no classes scheduled on Friday mornings, just so they could start their weekend partying a day early. Ironically, the heiress couldn't afford that luxury, as her workload often meant spending nights in the library, with this night being an exception as a treat to herself. _Speaking of which, where the Dust is Yang? She's already over 10 minutes late._ At that moment, a motorcycle rounded the bend with a deafening roar, its headlight shining directly on Weiss – it was headed straight for her. Blinded by the light, she feared the worst, letting out a final shriek and standing frozen in the middle of the square. She continued to scream until a familiar, comforting voice stopped her.

"Whoops, didn't mean to scare you that much."

The heiress opened her eyes and saw that the voice did indeed belong to Yang. It never occurred to her before, but Weiss realized that she had never seen her trainer outside the gym, so she almost dropped her jaw when she saw what the blonde was wearing. The tall blonde unsurprisingly did not show up with anything fancy, but instead had donned a slim, black biker's jacket with all the top buttons popped, revealing only a sports bra underneath. Together with the ripped, faded jeans and tall boots, Yang made for an intimidating yet sultry figure.

Attempting to snap out of the dream-like state she was in, Weiss blurted out, "Do you have any idea how stupid that was?! This is a _pedestrian-only_ area, so you can't come in on your bike and… and almost BULLDOZE me!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, easy there, Weiss," Yang said, raising her hands up defensively, "I got myself here as quick as I could 'cause I was running late and I didn't want to keep you waiting – I just got carried away."

"I thought you said you didn't have any more work for the evening?"

"What, do you think I'm a workaholic or something?"

Weiss immediately realized how ridiculous her question was and recoiled slightly out of embarrassment. "N-no, that's not what I mea-" Before she could continue, though, the blonde grinned and punched her lightly on the shoulder.

"It's fine, because I kinda am a workaholic. I freaking love my job!" She laughed for a bit before continuing. "But no, I had some errands to run and ran into a friend of mine earlier, so I came here as fast as I could. I maaayy have overdone the speed, though. Still, I pulled a pretty sick stop just then, if I do say so myself – you might even say I stopped Weiss-cold, eh?" The heiress responded with a groan.

"That wasn't even a good one."

"Mmmm, a six out of ten, at least?"

"Sure, you can call it a six. Anyway, you need to go put this motorcycle away before we can go watch that movie."

"Oh, right! Wouldn't want to leave ol' Bumblebee out for someone to take away, now would we?"

Weiss cocked her eyebrow at the mention of the name. "'Bumblebee'? Are you telling me that you named your motorcycle?"

Yang looked at her companion with a confused expression. "Yeah?"

"What, do you have a name for you scroll as well?"

"Of course not! Don't be silly! Names are only for important stuff – Bumblebee is special to me because I've had her for 4 or 5 years now, and we've travelled together to a lot of places over those years. Sure, she's a bit old now, and I have to repair her more and more often as the years go by, but I can't just give up on her. Because of that, she doesn't give up on me." The blonde paused for a moment to pat the seat of the motorcycle affectionately. "You could almost say that since I know your name now, I can't give up on you – that means that tomorrow, you better have your ass in the gym!"

Weiss laughed at the story, but even so, she felt something warm in the blonde's words. Sure, she encouraged her like this before whenever they were in the gym, but there was something about hearing them now, outside of that world, where Yang wasn't her trainer but instead just...Yang.

* * *

Luckily, Yang found a spot for Bumblebee very quickly, leaving the pair with just enough time to buy tickets, grab popcorn, and find the perfect seats – right in the middle of the row and just far enough back so that all they could see was the screen before them – before the trailers started. They engaged in idle chatter, going back and forth about how their respective weeks were, what plans they had for the weekend, whether or not buttered popcorn was better than the plain kind. It was enjoyable enough, but Weiss couldn't help but feel that their conversation was just like the kind she would have with anyone else she was acquainted with – inane and without much substance. _Perhaps I was just too hopeful,_ she thought mournfully. Her train of thought, however, was broken when she felt a finger stroke her left cheek.

The heiress recoiled immediately, turning to face the culprit, whose lilac eyes gazed at her with curiosity. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" she cried indignantly.

Her companion's ponderous look quickly turned into a grin. "Awfully jumpy today, aren't we?"

"Yes! I'm already worrying about the exam tomorrow, and then you come in, almost running me over in the plaza, and just as I'm about to finally settle down and relax, you decide to prod my face out of nowhere! So yes, I'm a bit 'jumpy' right now." As Weiss finished, she noticed a few of the silhouettes sitting around them had turned to face her, and the ensuing embarrassment cooled her temper significantly. She looked at Yang, who shared the same frozen expression as everyone else. _Oh, great, now she's going to think I'm crazy or something. Way to go, Weiss, way to make a good impression on your first night out._ "S-sorry about that, it's just…"

"No, I'm the one who should be sorry," Yang replied, voice filled with understanding. "I forgot about your thing tomorrow, and so I just acted like my normal self, all loud and playful and whatnot." She placed a comforting hand on Weiss's shoulder before continuing. "I'll be a little calmer for you tonight, alright?"

If she wasn't embarrassed enough, the heiress felt completely ridiculous after having Yang apologize to her for her own outburst. Still, she was thankful that her trainer could be so accommodating. "Right. Thanks." The pair remained in silence for a moment or two before Weiss asked, "Why did you poke me, anyway? Just being random?" She felt rude for asking, but she was certain that Yang had a reason.

The blonde's expression wasn't quite sure what to do with itself. "Oh, I, uh, was going to ask you something, but I'll just ask you later," she responded uneasily. Weiss caught onto this and soon put two and two together; _it's about the scar, isn't it?_ Most of the time, she took great care in covering up the thin gash across her eye, but tonight she must have been less thorough, since Yang had never mentioned it before. Even so, she didn't feel ready to reveal the nature of the scar and the unhappy memories that carved it. Still, she admired Yang's concern and didn't want to leave her thinking about it later, so Weiss settled for a half-truth.

"If you're talking about this scar, it's the unfortunate result of a fencing duel. I was foolish and challenged my opponent without any of the standard protection. I managed to hold my ground well enough until he swung his foil across my face." The heiress saw Yang wince a bit at the mention of the strike, so she spun the story in a different direction. "Of course, such a strike results in an automatic disqualification, so I still won the duel." She punctuated her victory with a proud smirk. The tale seemed to satisfy Yang's curiosity, who visibly relaxed.

"Oh, good, I thought it was something worse, like someone attacked you in a dark alley or something. And I didn't know that you played sports before! Wouldn't have guessed it from your body type, at least."

"Not _all_ sports require you to be a bulky sack of meat, thank you very much."

"You calling me bulky, Weiss?"

"N-no, not at all! I didn't mean to-" Weiss was cut off by the sound of Yang's snickering. "What's so funny?"

"I'm sorry, it's just that you look super adorable when you're flustered. Besides, I know I'm big in all the right places." She gave the heiress a wink, to which Weiss simply smacked herself on the head. "Ooo, look, the movie's starting now!"

* * *

Weiss soon discovered that this was not the best movie to watch that night. True, Yang _did_ say that "Ten Little Roosters" was a murder mystery, though thankfully it started out with a whole lot more mystery than murder. Indeed, some of the deaths were just plain hilarious – _I mean, who gets themselves and their clone killed by mousetraps?_ – but that wasn't why the heiress was so anxious. As the movie progressed, the deaths became more and more intense and elaborate, losing the comical effect of those in the beginning. Of course, Weiss was no weenie, but her mind had been on edge for most of the evening, mostly about her exam the next day. She knew that she had learned all the formulas and tables inside and out and that she had thus far been performing very well in the class, but this test was worth a third of the course grade, making it something that the heiress could not mess up on. _If I make anything less than an A-, Father's going to be disappointed for sure…_ As much as she tried to keep it together, the music started to rise in trademark suspense. On the screen, a masked figure was approaching one of the remaining survivors, pitchfork hoisted like a spear. The man had no idea of his impending doom, but right as he turned around, the pitchfork landed square in his chest.

The heiress couldn't contain herself any longer. With a yelp, she squeezed her eyes shut and curled up in her seat to defend herself from the world and the images that were assaulting her head. Rocking back and forth as she tried to calm her mind, Weiss barely noticed that something was tugging at her. She ignored the pulling until she heard Yang's voice.

"Hey, Weiss? I know you're scared and all, but it would be really awesome if you weren't crushing my arm."

The jittery girl snapped back to reality and saw that she had indeed been holding onto the blonde's arm the whole time. She had just assumed that she had been hanging onto the armrest of the seat and certainly not Yang's arm. For a moment, Weiss found herself feeling the woman's powerful forearm, tempered by so many hours at the gym, and all the muscles tensing and relaxing under her fingers. Something so strong could easily snap her own arm like a twig, but there it was, harmlessly resting in her arms. She felt she could stay like that forever, but as the moment passed, the heiress remembered that the arm she was holding so tightly onto belonged to her trainer, who certainly was not prepared for one of her clients to be clinging onto her like a girl might to her boyfriend. Luckily for her, the theater was dark enough that no one could see her face glowing red as she quickly relaxed her grip and sat upright.

"S-scary movies, am I right?" Weiss managed to stammer out in her attempt to diffuse the situation.

"Sure, sure." Yang then leaned in closer to whisper, "You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd almost say that you specifically chose a thriller just so you would have an excuse to do that."

"You were the one who suggested this movie! Don't you go associating me with your weird fantasies!"

"Please, you think that's weird? You should hear some of the other ones I got." Her tone then turned more serious. "Are you doing alright, though? This isn't even one of the scarier movies I've seen before."

"I'm…" Weiss didn't think it would be wise to say exactly what had been going through her mind yet, so again, she came up with a little lie. "I'm fine, really. Just tense today."

Yang frowned. "You sure? We can leave early, if you want."

"Absolutely not," the heiress stated firmly. "I'm not about to end this night on a bad note. Besides, most of this movie is… enjoyable." She smiled nervously, knowing full well that there was no way Yang didn't notice her fib. Nevertheless, the first part was true enough – Weiss had set aside tonight to be her one rare time of relaxation out of all her sleepless nights spent studying, not to mention that this was the first time she'd ever been with Yang outside the professional setting of the gym. Hell, this was the first time in a very long while when she'd hung out with _anyone_. No, she was definitely not backing out now. With a sigh, the heiress turned her attention to the screen in front of her and tried to gather what she had missed. Apparently, only three of the characters remained, with the latest death being that of the Linda girl by a tiger, wherever that came from. _Or was it Lindsay?_ Weiss could barely keep track of the names, but what did stand out to her was that Lindy sounded almost exactly like her roommate, and even acted like her. _I wonder if they're related_… Her thoughts, however, were interrupted by the feeling of fingers pinching the back of her neck.

Weiss instantly snapped her head to the left to glare at the blonde – who else would do it? – but before she could speak, Yang held up a finger from her free hand to her lips. "Just try to relax a little," she said softly as she began to rub the tense muscles in the snow-haired girl's neck. Weiss had almost forgotten about how those hands felt back from her first trip to the gym, but boy, did they work their magic. Just like before, the strong fingers soothed her skin with their warmth, and she could feel the fibers of her flesh uncoil and loosen under the continual rubbing. _Dust, that hits the spot,_ she thought as Yang's thumb found a knot close to her shoulder,_ I should really get a massage more often. How is she so good at this?_ She figured that her trainer had an intimate knowledge of human anatomy, so it shouldn't be all that surprising for her to extend that knowledge outside of simply working out. Whatever the case, Weiss didn't really care about _why_ it felt so good, but rather that it did. Weiss didn't even bother to pay attention to the movie anymore, instead choosing to close her eyes and let Yang's hands gently guide the movements of her head. She even let out a slight moan with each stroke of those fingers, though, fortunately for her, no one could hear them over the sound of the movie playing in the background. Rocking her head back and forth slowly, the world around her started to fade, and the last thing she could remember was Yang's warm caress around her nape.

* * *

"That ending was so bogus!" the blonde exclaimed as the pair exited the theater into the cool air of the spring night. "Ryan was the perfect killer! He's weird, wears a kilt, and is always talking about being the 'Mad King' or something; how come he's the survivor?"

"I don't know, it all seemed fine to me. I actually quite liked the ending," Weiss replied, stretching out her arms with a great big yawn. In truth, she only remembered bits and pieces of the plot, but something about the final 30 minutes really left a good impression on her.

"Oh really?" Yang cocked an eyebrow, a knowing grin sliding across her face. "Do tell what you liked about it."

"I… oh, I liked the part when Barbara died while composing her feelings about her inner tomboy! Tragic, but in a good way, almost."

"That was Gus, and he was writing about his inner girl." The grin grew into a smirk. "And Barbara was the last to die, since she was the killer."

"Oh, right, she was." _She was?_

"You know, I'd almost say that you don't remember the ending of the movie because you slept through it."

"What?! No, I wouldn't do that! I thought it was really compelling, and… and… okay, _maybe_ I took a nap during the final scene and missed who the real killer was."

Yang tilted her head to one side as if to say, "Oh really?"

"Alright, fine, I'm pretty sure I wasn't awake for the last half hour of the movie," Weiss conceded. "And I didn't think most of the movie was all that good, since it sacrificed solid plot for little inside jokes a few times too many. But on the whole, it was decent enough!" She didn't want to sound ungrateful for her trainer coming along with her.

Of course, Yang was far more perceptive than the heiress gave her credit for. "It's fine to say you didn't like the movie, Weiss. I also didn't think it was that good, since they killed off my two favorite actors from the very beginning," she said with a pout and then muttered, "Stupid directors and their stupid decisions…"

The pair walked across Aural Square, still bustling with life for being so late, to find where the blonde had parked her motorcycle. Yang continued to rant about the movie and what choices she would have made had she directed the production, but the heiress remained in silence. She felt horrible about the whole evening. Sure, she got what she wanted in hanging out with Yang, but the night had just gotten progressively more and more stressful for her from the very start. First, there was the looming threat of the next day's exam that was ever-present in the back of her mind, despite constant self-reassurance that she did everything a responsible student could. That led to more anxiety when Yang arrived in the most sudden fashion, and throughout much of the movie. The worst part was that her trainer had to deal with it all, and while she did a good job in soothing her nerves, the girl felt ridiculous for putting her through all that trouble. When they arrived at where the motorcycle was parked, Weiss finally spoke up.

"Yang, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, shoot." She continued unhooking the bike from the rack without looking at her.

"Why have you been so nice to me? I mean, don't get me wrong, I really appreciate it, but I feel like you've had to look over me this whole evening, and I wouldn't have brought you along if I knew I was going to be such a bother. I could have just taken the evening off by relaxing in my dorm, and you could be doing whatever it is you usually do on a Thursday night without my anxiety over an exam around."

Yang stopped unlocking Bumblebee and faced the worried girl, a smile mixed with the tiniest of frowns on her face. "You're naming all the reasons why. I've only known you for about two weeks, but I can already see that your life is a ball of stress, ready to explode. You wear yourself out so thin that even the smallest thing will probably set you off, and I can't just let that slide. Besides, you're my client, and one of my better ones at that – what else can I do _but_ help you out?" She paused for a moment, a new thought popping into her head. "And don't worry about what I could have been doing; if I had other plans, I wouldn't have been here, right? I came because I wanted to." The woman heaved the motorcycle out from its narrow parking space and onto the road, holding out her helmet to Weiss. "You ready to go home?"

It took a moment for Weiss to process what she meant. "Wait, are you saying that you are-"

"Going to take you back to your dorm, yes. It's that time of night when creeps are out and about, so I figure it would just be safer to bring you there myself."

"I've been in town this late before, and I handled myself just fine. You don't have to worry about me."

"Says the wound-up coil of a girl that sprung when I poked you in the cheek," Yang retorted with a short chuckle.

The heiress searched for a worthy response, but surrendered with a sigh. "Point taken. But… how are the two of us going to fit on that?"

"Oh, that's easy!" Yang piped up, swinging her leg over the seat of Bumblebee. "This baby is made to carry two people – all you have to do is scoot up real close and hold on to me. Whaddya say?" Despite how casually she talked about it, Weiss did not feel any more comfortable about it. Knowing Yang, she was going to be in for a wild ride, and as much as she had been working out, the white-haired girl wasn't all too certain that she would be able to hang onto her blonde partner. _Still, it _would_ probably be fun_, the more adventurous part of Weiss's mind thought, _and you get to snuggle up real tight with that hot, juic-_

"Alright, I'll trust you," she said, catching the helmet that the blonde tossed to her. "Just don't do anything too crazy."

The wild grin bearing gleaming teeth was not the response Weiss was hoping for.

* * *

"Alrighty then, I think we're here," Yang declared as they skidded to a stop just in front of the place Weiss had directed her to. There was something familiar about the dorm – after all, she did at one point also attend Beacon – but she could not quite put her finger on what it was. The few orange streetlights that were around did little to illuminate the features of the building. _Oh well, I'm sure I'll find out soon enough_. The woman attempted to dismount from her motorcycle, but she found that she was being held down by her heiress friend, who clung to her back, her small frame vibrating with little jitters – _ah, adrenaline_. "I'll take it that this was your first time ever riding a motorcycle, then," she said following a quick snicker. "How ya feeling?"

"I don't know if I'll be able to go to sleep for the next couple hours," Weiss said in a distant, breathless voice, her eyes looking nowhere in particular. "But I think I'm okay with that."

Yang was happy with that response. _At least you can end this night on a good note, just like you wanted_. "That's good to hear, but I think you should get to sleeping real soon," she said as she slowly pried the tired girl's arms from around her waist. She then pointed to the dorm before her. "You live there, right?"

Weiss took her time in slumping off Bumblebee, stretching her limbs one by one before replying. "Yeah, that's the place. The 'Great and Venerable Ironwood Hall, named in honor of General Ironwood of the Atlesian Army,'" she recited with little enthusiasm. "Dust, the tour guides really drill that one into our heads."

_Aha!_ "I thought I remembered this place! This is my old dorm from back when I was here! Man, how could I forget about it?" She turned to the surprised Weiss and asked, "Hey, are the floors still made from that worn-out wood and all? Is there still that one bathroom on the third floor that has the showers that run ice cold water after five minutes? That was the _worst_. And, and are the walls still so thin that you can hear people 'doing the do' in the next room over?" Yang could barely contain her nostalgia.

"I think they fixed that bathroom, but I live on the fifth floor, anyway, so I wouldn't know. The other two, regrettably, are still as you said they were."

"Ahhhh, that's so cool! It's good to know that even when you grow up and your life keeps changing, there're are still little bits that stay the same."

"Even if those things that remain are crappy and annoying?"

"Eh, I can live with those. Besides, those walls made for some very funny stories, if you know what I mean." She was about to say goodbye and head back home, but then an idea popped into her head. "Say, Weiss, would you mind if I came inside with you? I just wanna take another look at this place."

It was probably a trick of the light, especially considering how dark it was outside, but Yang could have sworn that the heiress's cheeks became a shade darker. "Uh… sure, sure, you can come in," Weiss said, almost tripping over her own words. "My roommate is a bit of a handful, though, so be wary of that."

"Aw, she can't be all that bad. After all, she did push you to go to the gym, and that's always a sound decision!"

The girl chuckled at that comment. "Well, don't say I didn't warn you." The two walked over to the staircase that sat at the end of the dorm and began to climb up the steps. _I sure don't miss this, that's for sure_, Yang thought as she cursed the fact that this dorm was too old for there to be an elevator. As they ascended, they passed by the third floor, the one that the blonde used to live on. She looked down the walkway, reminiscing the many times she had seen it like this, dimly lit after a night of partying. Of course, she still found time to party on most weekends, but it was at Beacon when she first really got into it. Her face glowed with those memories, until one of them spoiled the rest, the last and darkest memory of her time here.

_A bar. A wild crowd. A friend._

_Drinks. Lots of drinks. Don't know how many we had._

_The approach. The kiss. The romp that followed._

Before the images continued to invade her mind, Weiss called out to her, "Hey, are you coming up or what?"

Yang only just realized that she had been standing there at the threshold to the third floor for almost a minute. _Dust, I don't have time for these thoughts._ "Yeah, sorry about that, thought I forgot something," she replied hurriedly.

"Well, did you?"

"Nope, just my imagination! Just two more flights, right?" Regaining her cheerful demeanor, Yang bounded up the steps to catch up with and surpass Weiss. "C'mon, hurry up now!"

After climbing their way to the fifth and final floor, Yang followed her exhausted, panting companion to her room. _Man, she really got out of shape in the past few days, didn't she? Oh well, we'll fix that soon enough._ Weiss stopped in front of room 511 and looked down at the crack under the door, light shining through. "Well, she's definitely here, alright," Weiss sighed. "Just prepare yourself, I have a feeling that she's going to be extra bubbly tonight."

Almost immediately after turning the key, a girl in a red dress practically pounced on the unsuspecting heiress and squeezed her with a mighty hug. "Weiss, Weiss, Weeiiiiiisss! It was amazing! Everything went so well! Jaune had everything set up perfectly, the food was amazing, and we had such a good time! And guess what? We're already talking about a second…" The girl stopped gabbing happily when she saw the tall blonde woman behind her roommate, and her expression went on a rollercoaster from joyous to shocked to mildly horrified. "…date."

Weiss, confused with the sudden change in tone, turned around to look at her trainer in hopes of seeing what would elicit such a reaction from the merriest girl she knew. Yang just stood there frozen, like she had seen a ghost.

"Well, hello, lil' sis."

* * *

_EDITORS: condor700 and Just_one_more__

* * *

**OH BOY, this is going to be one heck of a family reunion, and man, did Ruby pick the worst thing to say in front of her big sis?**

**This one went on a bit longer than expected, but I'm very happy with the result! And yes, this didn't come out quite two weeks after the last one, but I ran into a bit of a writer's block with this one (if you could even tell) – expect future updates to be **_**roughly**_** 2 weeks apart.**

**That's all for now! Please leave a review if you want to offer some feedback or if you just want to speak your mind. Ta-ta~**


	7. Chapter 7

"Well, hello, lil' sis."

The words seemed to hang in the air as the two girls stared at each other in uneasy silence. Yang stared at Ruby wide-eyed and with her mouth agape, almost like she could not believe what she had just said. She stood rigid, as though any subtle moment would frighten off Ruby. Ruby, being on the receiving end of Yang's stony gaze, was understandably shaken. Her face started to swell with redness, quivering somewhere between bursting into tears and biting someone's head off. Her mouth repeatedly opened and closed in an effort to form some sort of reply, but in the end, it settled into a grimace.

Meanwhile, Weiss was left totally dumbfounded. _Just what the hell is going on? Since when did Ruby ever have a sister? And why do they look like they're about to kill each other?_ After the jump scares of both Yang's bold arrival at the movies and the movie itself, Weiss had had enough surprises for one evening and was not keen on dealing with this new situation. That being said, the only thing she hated more than the mountain of stress she was attempting to suppress was being left in the dark like panned between her two friends, hoping to somehow glean more information from them. _Are they even going to talk about… whatever is going on between them, or are they just going to continue this idiotic staring contest?_

At last, Yang spoke up. "What, you don't have anything to—" But Ruby seemed to have no intention of listening to whatever she had to say. Without warning, Ruby, still wearing her defiant face, stepped back into the dorm room and slammed the door right in Yang and Weiss's faces. Within seconds, the heiress could hear the sound of the key turning the lock from the inside and the jingle of the chain lock sliding on. _Wait a minute, chain lock…_

Weiss turned the key that was still in the lock and tried to push the door open, but the door only opened just a crack before coming to a quick stop. She knew that the door was locked from the inside with the chain, but she jerked it again and again in the vain hope that the chain might break. Of course, Beacon was not a cheap university, and neither was the metal they used for the chain lock – there was no use.

"Ruby Rose, you open up the door this instant!" Weiss shouted through the tiny opening she was allowed. "You are not about lock me out on the night before my exam! It's late enough as is, and I don't know what's going on here, but so help me Oum, I will not let you ruin my grade!" Her roommate did not respond, and Weiss could her the rustling of the bedsheets through the crack in the door. _Is that brat really about t hide under the covers? I'll show her!_ The heiress now resorted to banging on the door to try to get Ruby's attention, but still nothing. _Why is this happening to me? Tonight was already enough of a mess for my head. _The pounding slowed down as Weiss used up what little of her energy she had left. _All I wanted today was to have a nice, relaxing, uneventful evening so that I could calm my nerves. No drama, no surprises – is that really too much to ask?_ _Why isn't anything going my way?_ She finally stopped when she felt her eyes watering and her muscles starting to shake uncontrollably. Weiss's frustration was giving way to despair, and she might have broken down right then and there were it not for the warm touch on her shoulder.

The heiress spun around to look at the woman behind her. Yang had lost her intensity from earlier, and in the amber glow of the lights outside shining off her golden locks, she looked like a smoldering ember. She offered Weiss a lame smile, the kind people make when they are trying to hide what they are really feeling with false cheerfulness. Weiss knew this technique well. The still-shaking girl could guess that no matter what had happened between the two sisters – she could not help but pause at the thought of those two being related, seeing as they look nothing alike – Yang did not want their reunion to be so brief and bitter. "I can already tell you that she's not going to unlock that door until she knows that I'm long gone," she said with a sigh. "She did stuff like this all the time when she was a kid."

"I see," Weiss said noncommittally. She was sure that Yang had more to say.

"I know that you'd want an explanation for… all this," Yang gestured towards the door and herself as if to indicate her situation with her sister, "but you wouldn't want to deal with that right now I bet." Weiss huffed a quiet laugh in affirmation. "You've got a test tomorrow, so it wouldn't be fair of me to dump all that shit on you."

"Thanks." Yang frowned at the heiress's curt response, and Weiss quickly picked up this. "No, really, thanks for that. And for tonight. For what it was worth, it was fun." She rubbed her temples to fight back the small headache that was growing in her. "But I'm very exhausted right now, so forgive me if I don't sound so cheerful."

"Heh, if you sounded cheerful, I would be a bit concerned," Yang joked, returning to her usual self.

"Hey! I can be cheerful, too, you know," Weiss huffed with a pout, but without the acidity she would normally have. _The more distance I can put between that awkward reunion and us, the better._ "You just haven't seen it yet."

"I'd pay to see that! Anyway, I keep talking about you needing to rest for tomorrow, and here I am, stopping you from doing that, and it's- oh shit!" Yang had pulled out her scrolled to check the time, and it seemed as though she had completely lost track of it. "Yep, it's ten past one, time to let ya go. Alright, good luck on that test tomorrow, but I'm sure you'll kill it." The blonde punched Weiss lightly on the shoulder with a wink and a hearty grin.

"Hopefully, I won't need the luck, but thanks, Yang," Weiss replied with a small, sleepy smile. She would have loved to return Yang's cheerfulness, but she just did not have it in her; all she wanted to do at that moment was to sink into her pillow and find some peace and quiet at last. "I'll see you tomorrow at the gym, then."

"See ya, Weiss," Yang said with a wave of her hand, already headed toward the stairwell at the end of the walkway. Without making more than a couple steps down the stair, however, the blonde stopped, turning back to Weiss and calling out to her, "Oh, and if for some reason Ruby doesn't let you in or has fallen asleep already or something, just text me and you can crash at my place! I don't have an extra bed, but I have a comfy couch with lots of pillows, and I can drive you back in the morning before the exam!"

A shiver of excitement ran up Weiss's spine. Granted, this option would be rather inconvenient for the both of them, and she would rather not want to be in a rush in the early hours before the exam, _but…_ Weiss could not deny that she wanted to spend more time around her new friend. Besides, she might learn a little bit more about Yang, like what kind of nighttime habits she has, how clean she keeps her place, what kind of clothes she sleeps in…

"Weiss?" Yang called out again, breaking the girl out of her dream world.

"Yes, yes, I heard you the first time!" Weiss spat back, hiding her embarrassment with a sharp tongue. "I'll keep it in mind, thanks."

"Cool. 'Night, Weiss."

"Good night, Yang."

Weiss leaned with her back on the door as she listened to the sound of Yang's footsteps slowly descending down the metal steps until the harsh clack of boot on metal faded into a soft click. She watched as the woman moved across the dimly-lit parking lot to the only yellow motorcycle in all of Vale – even in this low light, its appearance was unmistakable. She watched as the silhouette mounted the bike and paused for a moment. Weiss had a hard time making out features from that distance, but she could have sworn that Yang was taking a good long look at the dorm. _Probably nostalgia,_ she thought indifferently, _though I could never imagine anyone missing _this_ place._ After what seemed like a minute of her just sitting there, Yang revved the motorcycle and tore out of the parking lot and down the road, the rumble of bike dimming to the hum of a bee before fading into silence.

Realizing that she hadn't moved from her spot for several minutes and spurred by the growing cold of the night, Weiss turned to face the door and gave it a firm few knocks. "Alright, Ruby, your sister's gone now," she said with light exasperation. "Would you _please _be a good roommate and let me in?"

Almost immediately, the heiress heard the sliding of the chain lock, and the door creaked open slowly to reveal Ruby, wearing her pajamas and a sullen face. _Strange, had she been by the door this whole time? _With a quick "thank you" to her roommate, Weiss walked into the room and made a beeline for her desk. She was done studying, but she still had many small things to go through before the test the next morning. _Review cards? Check. Pencils? Check. Bubble sheets in case the professor doesn't hand any out? Check._ With each item that she marked off, Weiss slid it into its respective pocket or folder in her backpack. With all her focus on packing materials for the next day, the heiress did not notice her red-clad roommate sitting at the edge of her bed, looking down at her feet with the same sad expression from earlier. In fact, Weiss would not notice her for another several minutes before she broke the silence.

"Hey, Weiss?"

"Yes, Ruby?" She did not look up from her task as she spoke.

"About what happened with Yang, I just wanted to sa-"

"Alright, stop right there," Weiss said, raising her hand out to stop Ruby from going where she thought she might be taking the conversation. Her eyes met Ruby's sad silver ones – _dust, she looks like she's about to cry or something_ – and she resumed. "Before you say anything else, let me just tell you a few things. First, it has been a _long_ week, and today has been even longer than that, so I'm very, very tired right now. Second, I have a big test tomorrow which I've been stressing about for ages, and the last thing I need right now is learn all about your family drama or whatever is going on between you and your sister. Third, it's just a bit after 1:30 right now, so even if I did want to hear whatever you had to say, I just don't have the time. Now, that being said, is there anything you want to say?"

Ruby looked dejected, but seemed to understand Weiss's situation and said nothing more than, "No, I don't have anything else to say." While this was the answer she was looking for, Weiss could not help but feel a pang of guilt. _Here I am, talking about needing to be understood, when she probably just went through something big. How thoughtful of you,_ the heiress scolded herself.

"Look, Ruby, I didn't mean to be so snappy. You're a sweetheart and a good roommate, and I know what just happened was probably huge for you, but I think it would be better for the both of us to let the matter rest until tomorrow. Once I'm done with this blasted test, I'll be all ears, okay?" Ruby gave her a nod in affirmation and a twitch of a smile. She was not quite happy, but at least Weiss's proposal was satisfactory. Weiss smiled back as warmly as she could and continued, "Why don't you talk about your date with Jaune instead? It sounded like you had a lot of fun."

"Well," Ruby started slowly, "I already told you that Jaune was taking me to Atlas Avenue, and I knew that it was supposed to be a nice place and everything, but I didn't think it was, like, _super_ nice. I mean, even the napkins were fancy! That dinner alone could have paid for all my textbooks this semester!"

"You don't have any textbooks this semester," Weiss drily interjected.

Ruby pouted at her roommate. "You know what I mean! It was just a simile!"

"Analogy."

"Right! That." Ruby paused for a moment as she tried to remember what exactly she was talking about. "Oh, yeah, and he even ordered a bouquet of roses to sit at the table, because, you know, I'm Ruby Rose, and so it was really sweet and I felt really mushy inside because Jaune was being so nice to me with all this." The brunette fidgeted in her spot on the bed, probably from the happy thoughts that she had just remembered from the date.

"That's all well and good, but how was Jaune himself?" Weiss asked. "He can go through the motions all he wants, but if he wasn't a good date, then it all means nothing." The heiress had been on a number of dates in the past, all with guys who were far more interested in impressing her than actually getting to know her, so she naturally had a distrust for people who go for lavish dinners and all sorts of other superficial fluff.

"Oh, he made the evening worth it, for sure," Ruby replied with a beaming smile. She then giggled as she remembered something. "It was his first ever date, apparently, and even though he tried to hide it, you could tell that he was super nervous. It was really cute, really, and it actually really helped me out, since I was nervous, too, and I was happy that I wasn't the only one. From there, we just kinda did our own thing. We started talking about school, but then we just went everywhere from there. We talked about our favorite shows, our plans for spring break, embarrassing stories about ourselves, our pets, and other stuff. I don't even remember everything, but I do remember that it was the best night I've had in a long time." The warm afterglow that Weiss felt from Ruby was proof enough of that.

"That's really good to hear, Ruby." While a little envious of the kind of happiness Ruby had, she could not help but smile – _no, she deserves this._ Weiss mentally patted herself on the back for cheering up her roommate. _So this is how Yang does it – perhaps a bit of her is rubbing off on me?_ She smiled at the thought decided that now was probably a good time to go to sleep. "Alright, I have to wake up in six hours, so I'm going to go to bed now."

"Okay, that soun- wait a minute, why are you waking up at 8? Isn't your test at 10?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Don't you want to squeeze in extra sleep, so you don't, you know, accidentally take a nap during the exam?"

"And go to class looking like a mess? No, I need that hour to shower, do my hair, put on makeup, and make sure I don't look hideous before going out." Of course, Weiss looked gorgeous no matter what she did, but it was one thing to look good and another entirely to _feel_ good. Ruby, someone who did not usually fuss about appearance other than making sure she washed herself in the morning, could never understand what she was going on about.

"I know, but don't you think that's a bit unnecessary?"

"Yes, it is certainly necessary. If I'm trying to figure out the number of chiral centers in a molecule, I don't want to waste my time thinking about whether or not I have split ends showing." Her roommate let out an "ah" of understanding, but Weiss knew that all this talk was foreign to her. Still, Ruby was being a good sport about it, and that's all Weiss needed. "Anyway, good talk, but it's time for sleeping."

"Right! Good night, Weiss!" Ruby zipped under the covers and slipped on her sleep mask. She was used to going to bed while Weiss was still doing homework or reading, so it was a necessary purchase for her – tonight was no exception. Weiss began to take off her clothes and slip into her own pajamas, tossing her sweater and leggings into the laundry hamper. She made her way across the room to flip off the lights before also slipping into her blanket.

As Weiss was slowly letting go of her thoughts and drifting into her slumber, Ruby whispered from across the room, "Hey, Weiss?"

"What is it?" She might have tried to sound annoyed at her roommate interrupting her, but she honestly could not muster the will or the energy to do so.

"Was she… was Yang really the trainer you've been talking about?"

_Ah, still got that on her mind, then_. Still, she could not blame Ruby for wanting to ask something about her sister. "Yeah, she's the one."

Weiss did not hear anything from Ruby for a little bit. It was an obvious question with an obvious answer, but she figured that it was harmless enough to ask anyway. Then, she heard Ruby sigh – out of relief or sadness, she was not quite sure.

"I guess things got better for her, then."

* * *

_EDITORS: condor700 and Just_one_more__

* * *

**Well, well, well, it has certainly been a very long time since I updated this - in fact, as of the time of posting this, 2 months on the dot. At first, I thought just to take a break for finals in late April and early May, but after not writing for that long, I started to lose my touch. It didn't help that this chapter was especially difficult for me to nail down, being such a vital chapter. This is the result of my third rewrite, and I'm finally happy with how it turned out.**

**For those of you who waited all those 2 months for this, thank you so much for keeping up with this story, and here's to finally getting the ball rolling again! Please feel free to say what you think of this chapter, as I'm sure y'all will have lots to say for this one ;)**

**Also, I would like to thank Jefardi for helping me out with this chapter - he was a massive help, so thanks, mate :D**

**That's all for now!**


	8. Chapter 8

Although she could never claim to be organized, Yang had a very rigid ritual to start out her day. She wasn't much of a morning person – in fact, she would like nothing better than to sleep in every day until 10:00 – but her schedule for work demanded that the blonde trainer had to be in the gym by 9:00 for her first set of clients. Of course, Yang loved her job, but when her alarm rang and cut her off in the middle of a dream, she found her pillow far more welcoming. Nevertheless, by the time 7:45 AM came around, she would roll herself out of bed and start her day with morning calisthenics. There was nothing better to get her heart pumping, blood flowing, and any remaining sleepiness out of her body. After this, she would take a long shower. Although the blonde took great pride in her luscious mane, it was also a pain to manage, meaning that she needed a good half hour in the bathroom to wash, untangle, and dry it out. Once she tied it into a ponytail and got dressed for the day, Yang would quickly blend herself a protein shake for breakfast – usually a mixture of yogurt, blueberries, granola, avocado, nuts, and a bit of protein powder. She couldn't spend too much time to enjoy a more traditional eggs-and-bacon breakfast, but that was a horribly balanced meal, anyway. With twenty minutes or so to spare, Yang would gun out of her apartment, leap down the stairs, hop on her trusty Bumblebee, and start speeding toward Gold's.

Yang's routine that morning was no different, but while she was exercising, washing, eating, and riding to work, her normally blank mind was swarming with thoughts from the previous night. The night was eventful enough with Weiss, but Ruby… _She was the last person I thought I'd see._ Yang gritted her teeth as she zipped through the streets on her way to the gym. _After all that time, I would've expected her to be running her mouth with questions, insults, anything, but instead she slammed the door in my face._ The blonde smirked humorlessly to herself. _Not like I had anything clever to say. All I said was "Well, hello, little sis," but I guess I wasn't very nice about it. _Yang took a moment to remember how she'd felt that night. Surprise, shame, and guilt. _Why, though? I should be happy to see my sister after all this time, shouldn't I? After all I've been through…_ Yang shook her head to clear her mind of those thoughts and brought her focus back onto the road, weaving in between traffic as she did. "We'll figure that all out later, girlie," she told herself. "Don't you worry."

Once she skidded to a stop outside Gold's at 8:57, Yang returned to her usual self. She swung off Bumblebee and parked it in her usual spot – no one who went to the gym regularly was dumb enough to take her space. Once she locked up the bike, Yang dashed to the glass doors of the gym and swung them open. "Gooooood morning!" she cried upon entry.

"Oh, hey, Yang," came the reply from the front desk, where a young man sat nonplussed. Any other person might have jumped at the blonde's dramatic entrance, but by that point, he had gotten used to it. Yang gave him a quick "yo" before scanning the room for her first client of the day. However, aside from the receptionist and a woman tying on her running shoes on the other side of the lobby, the gym lobby was deserted.

"Isn't Peter supposed to be here by 9?" Yang asked the receptionist. "I rolled out of bed just so I could be on time for him."

"Ah, yes, well, you see," the man behind the desk began sheepishly. "Mr. Port called in earlier this morning – well, 20 minutes ago, to be exact – and said that he couldn't make it today. Something about back pain he said."

Yang scoffed, "Ha, back pain, my ass. If that fat bastard didn't stuff his face all the time, maybe his belly wouldn't break his spine."

"But, Yang, tha-"

"I know, I know, it's some sort of genetic condition with him, but that just means he has to work with it, and his kind of diet really doesn't help out much." She sighed, stretching her back for a moment. "Well, at least I have an extra hour to work on my chest!" She did not notice the receptionist shake his head tiredly, but it would not have mattered to her anyway. Even when all she did at work was work out, she always savored the moments when she could just do her own thing. After all, what's the point in working at a gym if a girl can't get fit herself? Yang climbed the stairs and headed for the pull-up bar. It was early enough in the day that most of the gym floor was empty, save for the other early-bird clients with their trainers and some of the more die-hard gym rats. She greeted all the ones she knew with a grin, and they returned in kind. It was a small thing, but Yang liked making the gym a friendly environment. Otherwise, people could easily fall into a pattern of coming in, doing their own thing, and leaving without so much as a word to anyone else. Perhaps that was just how they liked it, but in Yang's mind, there's never anything wrong with a little surprise socialization. Once she got herself situated and finished a few stretches, Yang leapt up to grab the bar and began rhythmically pulling herself up and down.

"Eh, yo, blonde tits!" a voice from across the gym called out. Yang, who stopped moving for a moment, knew that she was the one being beckoned without needing to check and dropped from the pull-up bar. She heard the place grow quiet, unsure how the strong blonde might react. In most cases, she would destroy whoever insulted her like that, but instead, the trainer's mouth spread out into a devious grin – she knew exactly who was calling her out.

"Is that you, monkey man?" she replied playfully, turning to face the person calling out to her. Sure enough, she found herself looking at Sun Wukong, long-time friend from her college years and mischief maker extraordinaire. He wore long blue gym shorts with a white T-shirt which he at one point tore in half, exposing his well-sculpted torso. He took great pride in his abs, often using them to woo over girls at clubs and bars. _Of course, until they learn how much of an idiot he is, _Yang mentally added with a sneer. And then there was his other talking point: his long monkey tail as yellow as his hair, compliments of his faunus heritage. In it, he carried a water bottle and a towel for his workout.

"Ooo, just a little racist today, aren't we?"

"Says the dude calling me out by my boobs."

After a moment of tense silence, eyes locked onto each other, the two blondes burst out laughing. Like all best friends, they treated each other like dirt. Often, they went back and forth with mounting levels of insults, but on this particular day they both tacitly agreed to keep it tame. Sun held out his hand, which Yang used to initiate their own special handshake.

"It's good to see you, dude, but aren't you supposed to be at work?" Yang asked. All the effort the monkey faunus put into his body was most certainly taken out of his work ethic, so he never stayed with one job for too long. _Still, he would never straight up skip work._

"What, that dumb tech job? Nah, that doesn't start until noon, so I figured that I got time enough to swing by and see what you're up to."

"Aw, how sweet!" Yang sweetly cheered, doing her best schoolgirl impression. It achieved its desired effect of royally annoying Sun, who simply face-palmed. "But yeah, just getting my morning workout before my next client comes in. Wanna join?"

"Hell yeah! These abs don't come naturally, you know." It was Yang's turn to roll her eyes as they both made their way over to the mats to perform their respective exercises. Yang tossed Sun a medicine ball for his mason twists while she lay down on her stomach for some push-ups. A couple minutes into their sets, Sun spoke up.

"By the way," he started, not missing a beat with his twists, "you didn't come out for Country Night last night, and you never miss that – what gives?"

Yang abruptly halted mid-push-up. _Damn it, I knew he'd bring that up._ "I, uh, something came up and I forgot to text you that I wasn't gonna come."

"Something important enough to miss a night with your bros? Lemme guess, you found a guy to hook up with at the gym?"

"Psh, as if! Don't get me wrong, we've got some hot dudes here, but none of them are my type."

"…was it a girl?" Sun suggested. Yang cast him a dark glare. "Okay, okay! Geez, sometimes you just can't take a joke."

She rolled her eyes again, but at least her expression softened. "No hookups, but it was a girl, one of my trainees. I went to the movies with her."

Sun also stopped his mason twists and looked over to Yang with curiosity. "So… who is she?"

"Her name is Weiss, and she's my most recent client. I already know what you're going to say – 'Yang, isn't it weird to hang out with someone from the job?' – and normally, yes, that's true, but there was just something about her... she looked like she really needed a friend." Yang decided to withhold the fact that she was the heiress to Schnee Tech, because that would have been a whole bucket of worms she did not want to deal with.

"Never figured you be the kind of person to make shy friends."

"She's not that shy, just kinda lonely and stressed. You know me, I don't like it when people are sad, so I figured I could help her be happy, y'know?"

The faunus mulled over this for a moment before responding, "Ah, so she's, like, your new Bl-" Before he could finish, though, Yang slammed her fist down onto Sun's stomach and knocked the wind out of him, knocking him flat on his back

"What did I say about saying that name?" Yang asked, bringing her face right up to Sun's. Her voice betrayed no cruel intention, but her eyes threatened to cut him apart.

"Don't bring it up if you still want to have kids?" came the weak reply – there was no joking his way out of this situation.

"Exactly." Her grimace became a frown as she pulled herself away from her friend and plopped down on the floor. "I've had a lot on my mind today, and I don't really wanna add _that_ to the list."

"Something to do with this Weiss chick, or…"

Yang chuckled lightly_._ "No, nothing like that," she started, taking a deep breath before continuing. "You know how I haven't talked to anyone in my family in, like, years?

"Yes..?" Sun answered slowly, uncertain of where she was going with the conversation.

"Well, guess who Weiss's roommate at Beacon is?"

The monkey faunus's mouth opened wide in surprise and realization, and he started howling with laughter. "Oh, man that's too perfect! You run into a random girl at the gym, train her, become her friend, and find out that she's Ruby's roommate? Dude, this world is _way_ too small."

"Yeah, small world, alright," Yang said glumly, eyes fixed on the ceiling. Sun was quick to notice that something was up.

"Oh, right, you really didn't let her know that you were going away back then. Smooth, by the way." Yang shoot him a dirty look, to which Sun merely shrugged. "Anyway, I'm guessing the reunion wasn't all sunshine and rainbows?"

The blonde woman let out a short huff of a laugh. "Not really much of a reunion, to be honest. I saw her, standing in the doorway to her room, and said something snarky like 'Wow, long time, no see', and got me a door slammed in my face."

Sun winced. "Ooo, that sucks, dude."

"You can say that again."

"Still, I don't remember you ever calling her or anything ever since you came back into town. Aren't sisters supposed to be super tight and whatnot?" Sun never had siblings, but he still had a rudimentary understanding of how to treat people right.

"Well, ye-" Yang began with a raised voice before dialing it down. "I never knew she was here in Vale."

"Well, she probably didn't know you were in town, either, so you can't blame her for reacting like that. I mean, if I saw my long-lost and totally ripped sister pop up outta nowhere, I'd do the same. You can be pretty mean-looking when you want to be."

Yang remembered how shocked Ruby looked that night and felt absolutely stupid. She already knew that she made a terrible mistake with her first impression after all those years, but reminding herself made it that much worse for her. The blonde took a deep breath and tried to shake away her thoughts. _Alright, you know you screwed up,_ Yang started to tell herself._ But there's no point in thinking about it so much instead of doing something about it._ "Okay," Yang started slowly, still gathering her words. "Definitely need to resolve sometime soon. I'll find her again and we can talk it out, and I'll try to be the big sister I'm supposed to be."

"There we go!" Sun piped up. "That's the Yang Xiao Long we know and love." Yang couldn't help but laugh a little at his excitement.

"Don't get too excited – I still don't have much of a plan for _how_ to fix things with Ruby. At least I know where she lives, so that's a start?"

"You'll think of something. She's your sister, after all, so I'd certainly hope so." Sun looked at the clock on the wall and promptly tossed the medicine ball to the side. "Damn, is it time already?"

"Gotta go to work?"

"Yeah, didn't think I was gonna be here for this long, but hey, this was a good talk." The faunus stood up and wiped some sweat from his forehead before turning to give a smile to his friend.

"Sure was. Thanks, dude."

"Anytime." Sun glanced at the clock again and his panic renewed. "Alright, really got to run now. Catch ya later, Yang-a-rang!"

"See you later, Sunshine," Yang replied, a smile back on her face.

* * *

The rest of the day passed without incident. Yang did her usual thing, helping clients with their workouts, working out herself, but most of all, not wallowing in her thoughts from the previous night. Sun's surprise visit probably helped out by clearing her mind of Ruby – she now had an idea of what needed to be done with her, and that knowledge gave her some comfort.

Even though it had been a while since her last time at the gym, Weiss came right on time, already changed into her gym clothes. For the first time since Yang had met her, though, she looked sufficiently refreshed – Yang guessed that this was how Weiss was whenever she did not have something to stress about in her life. Recently, she'd had a lot of things on her plate, between schoolwork, her big chemistry exam, and adding a workout routine, so Yang could understand where she was coming from. But now, even in the way she strode into the room with purpose, Yang could sense that her new friend had put all that behind her. A fiendish grin creased her face. _Good, that means she'll be ready for what I'm gonna throw at her today_.

"Hey there, Weiss! You're looking like you're having a _Schn_-ice day." She took extra care to pause before her pun for dramatic effect.

Weiss's composure faltered as she groaned in annoyance. "Really? Is that really how we're going to start today?"

"Aw, lighten up, Weiss! I made that one especially for you," Yang replied. "Although I will admit that your name is really hard to pun with. 'Weiss Schnee.' Not really something that rolls off the tongue, y'know?"

"Well, I guess my name isn't meant for your silly word play."

"Ooo, sassy today, aren't we? I like that." Yang then sprung up from the bench and landed right in front of the petite girl. "Let's see if you've got more where that came from." She gestured to Weiss to follow her and made her way toward the squat racks. On their way over, weaving between equipment and gym-goers, Yang didn't quit her mouth running.

"So, I take it you had a good day?" she asked, looking back at Weiss.

The heiress seemed startled by her guess. "How did you know?"

"I dunno. Just a feeling, I guess." This was a lie, of course. She had noticed a bold energy around Weiss when she came into the gym moments before, and her attitude, while spunky, sounded more relaxed than before. Yang noticed these kinds of things in others, but she didn't want to come off as one of those people who pays a little too much attention to others. In her own experience, that usually weirded her out, and she didn't imagine Weiss being any different.

Weiss gave a slight smile. "Yes, today was a good day. Even with staying up later than I had intended, my exam went well, which was a relief. I knew everything that it threw at me, but I still took my time to look over my answers a few times, so I know I made no mistakes." She sighed happily before continuing. "It's nice to have things work all according to plan."

Yang couldn't help but return the smile. _So this is happy Weiss, eh? I could get used to this._ "Well then, I hope you can carry that attitude into today's workout! And since today is leg day, that means…"

"…squats," Weiss finished with a small amount of dismay in her voice as the pair passed by the power rack. Yang remembered the last time she tried these was right after she had fainted from exhaustion, so she could understand her apprehension. Nevertheless, she knew that Weiss was not one to back down from a challenge, and she had faith that the white-haired girl would manage just fine.

"You got it! But don't worry, we're gonna build up to those later. Right now, we've got some warming up to do. All that time sitting around in the library won't do you any favors now, so let's get you limbered up!" Weiss did not look particularly excited about what was in store for her, but after taking a deep breath, she steeled herself and gave Yang a firm nod. _That's the spirit, girl._

"I have to admit, I'm impressed with how you handled today," Yang said as the girl before her heaved the bar back onto the squat rack. Most of the time, when people come back to the gym after a period of absence, they return with diminished strength. Of course, that was to be expected; Yang didn't expect anyone to magically maintain muscle mass during a break from exercise, especially in the case of Weiss who spent most of that time stressing over one thing or another. Indeed, Weiss certainly did not reach her previous weight limit from before – _not that it was anything special_, Yang added to herself. However, the blonde was impressed with the vigor with which Weiss tackled her exercises. She knew her limits, yet she attacked them without hesitation. _If this is how she goes about studying, no wonder she's such a top student._

"Yeah, I'm impressed that I'm doing this to myself," Weiss replied once she caught her breath. For a moment, she remained hunched over from the position of holding the bar, but she soon righted herself, placing her hands on her hips with the look of a woman of accomplishment.

"This is coming from the girl who practically tortures herself with studying."

"Hey, that's because grades are important to me!"

"More important than your own body and making it feel good?"

"A massage makes my body feel good. Working out is going to make walking up all those stairs to my room just that much more painful."

"Heh, you know what they say, though; 'Pain is just weakness leaving the body.' Give this a few more weeks, and 5 flights of stairs will be nothing to you!" Apparently, Weiss had forgotten about how high up her dorm room was, since she hung her head in resignation at the mention of it. Yang couldn't help but laugh and pat her on the back.

"Speaking of the dorm, though," Weiss said, her tone becoming more serious and straightening up again. "Now that I'm over and done with my exam, I would like to hear an explanation for what happened last night. Ruby seemed really awkward about the subject before bed, and she wasn't herself this morning, either."

_Ah, crap_. Yang did say that she would bring light to what happened between her and her sister, but at this point, she really, really hoped that the topic could be avoided altogether; hearing about how Ruby was feeling down didn't help matters, either. She already started to think about what she was going to do with Ruby, but she would rather have it be her own matter – _keeping it in the family, right?_ Still, she wasn't about to dodge Weiss's question now and arouse more suspicion. "…right, that. Well, the short version is that we haven't talked in three years, and neither of us really want to talk now, or probably even know _how_ to talk to each other." None of that was a lie, but she also didn't want to reveal anything more than she had to. Weiss continued to look at her expectantly, though, so Yang went on and said, "Don't worry about it, though! I'll get it all sorted out with her soon enough, and we'll be able to put it all behind us." The trainer flashed a reassuring smile at Weiss, but the heiress's cocked eyebrow indicated it wasn't working.

"Oh, really? And how exactly do plan on doing that?"

"Easy! I know where she lives now, so I'll just take my bike over to her place and we can sort it out from there."

"Uh huh. Because that worked out so well the last time you suddenly showed up on her doorstep."

"Well…" She had to admit, now that the idea was out of her head, it didn't sound so amazing anymore. In fact, she can just imagine Ruby walking up the stairs to her dorm room and seeing her buff sister waiting at the door. _That'll set us back another couple weeks…_

"Also, do you even know when she's around? You could be waiting for hours before Ruby shows up. Not to mention that you probably don't have her number, either."

"I… alright, you got me there." Yang was a little crestfallen upon realizing how threadbare her plan for fixing her relationship with Ruby turned out to be, but she was more surprised at how scathing Weiss was. _I mean, she's not wrong, but Dust, she can really be forceful sometimes._

Weiss groaned before going on. "Brilliant. My roommate and my trainer, probably two of the most involved people in my life at this point, are both dolts who cause way more drama than there ought to be. This is something that we're going to resolve swiftly and decisively."

Yang looked at the girl with a confused expression. "What do you mean, 'we're' going to resolve this?"

"I mean that I'm stepping in as well," Weiss declared, puffing out her chest boldly. Yang heard this and immediately tried to convince her otherwise – after all, this was a _family_ matter, and damn it, this was something Yang needed to fix herself – but Weiss quickly cut her off before she said a word. "Look, I know you're probably going to say something about how I should butt out of family business, and normally I would respect that, but in this case, I am not going to sit around and wait for you two to stop moping about. So, this is what's going to happen: you're going to block off some time Sunday afternoon, and you, Ruby, and I will all meet up somewhere to talk this whole thing out. I'll be there to make sure you actually _do_ that and that you two don't get at each other's throats. I still feel like you haven't really been giving the full story, but I can wait to hear it come out organically from when you talk with Ruby. So, do we have an agreement?"

There was a long pause after that. Yang stared at Weiss blankly for a while, her mind swimming in thoughts again. Once again, she was taken aback by Weiss's forwardness. Usually, that was her trait, and it was how she had gotten through to Weiss before when she first started coming to Gold's, but now the tables were turned. On the one hand, it pissed her off, since the blonde was not quite ready to hand over control of the situation to someone else. Even more to her displeasure was how fast Weiss wanted to move this plan along. _Can I really be ready to see Rubes again in just two days?_ the blonde asked herself. She was hoping to tackle this issue at her own pace, as this wasn't just about the lack of communication with her sister for three years. No, any conversation about that would inevitably lead to talking about what started the whole ordeal, which was a conversation she was not ready to have. However, Yang couldn't deny that something had to be done. Plus, in all honesty, she felt relief in knowing that she was getting help to mend the rift between her and her sister.

"Alright," she said finally. "Sounds like a plan to me."

Weiss smiled, satisfied with the answer she got, and took a glance at her phone. "Good. Well, it's almost time for me to go, so I'll get out of your hair now," she said as she gathered her things. "I'll see you on Sunday, I suppose?"

"Yeah, see ya then. Don't forget tomorrow, though – arm day!"

"Wouldn't dream of it!" Weiss shouted back as she made her way toward the stairs leaving the gym floor. Once the white pony whipped around the corner out of view, the grin that Yang had plastered on her face softened into a slight frown as she processed what was soon to come.

"Time to face the music, eh, Yang?" she told herself quietly with a sigh.

* * *

_EDITORS: condor700 and Just_one_more__

* * *

**For a story that started around the gym, there really wasn't much of that lately, so I fixed that. Also, just like Weiss did here, I started working out again after a long period of absence, and BOY, does it suck. I mean, while I was there and for the rest of the day, I felt great, but as I'm writing this author's note, my arms are doing their very best not to move D: Just a hump I've got to get over, of course**

**As you might guess, all shall be illuminated VERY soon about Yang's past. Well, probably not all. Maybe half? A third?**_**Something**_**will be revealed at any rate, and I'm sure that y'all, like our little Schnee, are eager to see what that is. Thank you so much for reading thus far; it's good to hear what y'all have to say for story, and I hope that you have even more questions and comments for me! Feel free to ask away, as I'm always open to suggestions (I'll take them at my own leisure, of course). That's all for now!**


	9. Chapter 9

Yang's right foot would not stop tapping, no matter how much she attempted to restrain herself. Usually, whenever she got anxious like this, she would simply work out her nerves with some light exercise, something physical to get herself out of her troubled mind. However, given that she was sitting at a table outside a ramen shop and surrounded by people enjoying their food on that cool Sunday evening, this wasn't really an option. Yang thought of taking a quick run around the block to calm herself, but she knew that she had to stay there and wait for two very important people.

Yang wished that she could claim the idea of meeting up at A Simple Wok for the "talk" – after all, the sisters loved coming there on summer nights to grab a bowl of Mistral Special each – but Weiss was the clever one, as always. The heiress also cited that since they would be discussing whatever they needed to discuss in a public place, the conversation would naturally have to be civil; in Weiss's own words, "You two dolts have to be the loudest I've ever met, and I will not have you two shouting at each other."

Yang smiled weakly upon remembering that. _At least we still have that in common after all this time_, she thought glumly. _No - I can't be thinking so negatively now of all times. C'mon, Yang, you got this – you gotta be good for Ruby._

In an effort to distract herself, Yang scanned the area around her. Springtime was upon the city, so the manager of the ramen shop had brought out tables in response to the increased traffic he was getting at the stand. That evening wasn't particularly busy, as everyone was likely preparing for the start of the new week, but there were still a number of patrons. Families, friends, couples – they were all slurping up noodles with grins on their faces. It was a very lively and happy atmosphere, appropriate for the time of year.

Yang listened to their chatter idly, thinking how nice it would be for her spring evening to go as cordially as the others'. But with the change of seasons also come storms.

"We're here, Yang!" The sudden voice calling out from behind her almost made Yang jump out of her seat. _Damn, just how on edge am I?_ The blonde swiveled around to greet the new arrivals, who were just close enough to where she could make out their faces. Weiss waved at her from afar, while Ruby, lagging behind her roommate a few steps, quickly looked toward her feet. Yang knew that their second reunion wasn't going to be easy for either of them, but seeing her sister avoiding her gaze twisted her gut something awful. Still, she resisted the urge to frown.

Yang returned the gesture as the pair got closer. "Hey, Weiss!" She then cautiously added, "Ruby."

Her sister looked up at her and for the first time, Yang got a good look at her face. She looked a little wearier than the last time they ran into each other and had an uncharacteristic dread in her eyes. Yang noticed that the red highlights that her little sister had been playing with three years ago had expanded into fully red-tipped hair. The older sister couldn't help but smile a little upon seeing that – Yang had been the one to suggest that Ruby toy around a bit with hair dyes. Her taste in clothing didn't seem to have evolved too much, but between their previous encounter and that moment, she had started wearing more fetching outfits; right then, Ruby had on a plaid red shirt tucked into skinny black jeans. Yang would have been more proud of her appearance were it not for the situation at hand.

"I hope it didn't take too long to get here - I know this place isn't really the easiest place to get to," Yang said as the two reached the table.

"Of course not," Weiss replied matter-of-factly, taking the seat next to Yang and gesturing to Ruby for her to sit across from her sister. "I would never have picked this place if it turned out to be a hassle."

"Right, right, how could I assume you wouldn't have thought of that?" Yang joked lamely, still trying her best to keep her gaze from wandering over to her sister as the new arrivals sat down.

Weiss must have noticed the unease in both Yang's and Ruby's expressions as she clapped her hands together, getting their attention. "So, what are we ordering?"

"I'll take a Grand Mistral!" Yang blurted out almost immediately.

Weiss chuckled lightly and shook her head. "Of course you would. And what about you, Ruby?"

The little brunette was slow to reply. "I'll have that, too," she said with a small, weak voice. She glanced at Yang for a moment but then quickly returned her eyes to the table.

"Well, if both of you are getting that, I will just go ahead and do the same," Weiss got up from her chair, earning confused looks from the two sisters. Yang wasn't sure what exactly she was up to. _Unless…_ "I'll go ahead and take the orders for all three of us at the counter and leave you two with some time to chat." With a smug expression and a nod to Yang and Ruby, Weiss turned on her heel and headed toward the ramen bar.

_No, no, no, don't leave me here alone!_ Yang wanted to scream right then as she watched her friend leave, but she knew better than that. No, she couldn't panic now - the ball was in her court, and Yang had to do something with it. Still, Yang cursed Weiss under her breath for leaving her alone with Ruby before turning back around in her seat to face her sister.

Unsurprisingly, Ruby didn't seem to be too pleased with Weiss leaving them to their own devices either. Even though she did her best to not look directly at Yang, the blonde could see the telltale signs of her discomfort: fidgeting in her seat, rocking back and forth, scratching her nose. Yang let out a quiet sigh, one Ruby wouldn't be able to hear. Sure, the whole purpose of the meeting that evening was to have the two estranged siblings reunite, but some part of Yang was still not quite ready to face her sister, especially not when she seemed this unwilling. Yang had to make an effort, though – _no time like the present, right?_

"So…" Yang started without going anywhere in particular. How does she start up a conversation with someone who's been out of her life for almost three years? She didn't know how much or how little she changed in all that time or even how Ruby felt about her. Heck, it was impossible to read someone when their head was pointed to the ground, her expression hidden by red-streaked hair. An idea popped in Yang's head to break the ice. "I like what you did with your hair, by the way. Red looks good on you."

"Thanks," Ruby said shortly without looking up. It was clear that she wasn't going to be much of a conversationalist tonight.

Yang was hoping that complimenting her hair would've opened her up a little, but perhaps it was still something too closely related to her and not her little sister. Weiss was still at the counter, though, and the blonde wasn't about to wait out the next several minutes in silence. It was going to be awkward one way or another, so she might as well continue trying to reach out to Ruby.

"What about Zwei? How's he been doing?" Yang hadn't thought about it, but she hadn't seen her energetic corgi ever since she left home. She didn't particularly miss the dumb dog, but she could imagine he would have been a handful for Ruby.

Her little sister was playing with a splinter on the edge of the table when she replied brusquely, "He's fine, like always." She didn't seem interested in continuing any sort of dialogue, which Yang could understand. Nevertheless, the blonde continued on the best she could.

"How's it like to go to Beacon? I remember you were really excited to come when you got your acceptance letter." _Excited_ was putting it lightly; Ruby was positively _ecstatic_ when she got that letter. She wouldn't stop talking about it for a whole week and she thought up of all the new adventures she might have in Beacon. Their family had lived in Patch, an island off the coast of Vale that was dotted with small summer homes and cottages, so for all her life, Ruby had never set foot in a city. She wanted to stay up late and wander the streets of Vale, see all the people milling about, and experience the high life of the city, but most of all, she wanted to attend the same school as her big sister…

Ruby finally stopped inspecting the patterns on the table and lifted her head up, albeit not while looking directly at her. "It's alright, I guess. Not everything turned out the way I thought, but other things turned out better." Yang's mouth twitched painfully as she suppressed a wince. She knew perfectly well what her sister meant by things not turning out well – that would be her disappearing from Beacon and Ruby. The blonde did have a reason, a very good reason for leaving, but she doubted that either her sibling or Weiss would understand her.

Speaking of which, the heiress finally returned to the table. "The cook said that he'll be coming by in a few minutes with our food, so we have some time to kill," she said as she sat back in her chair. She then looked between the two sisters, both silent, and asked, "I hope I didn't interrupt whatever conversation you two were having, do I?"

"We're… we still need to break the ice, I think," Yang conceded, smiling nervously. Once again, Ruby didn't say much.

Weiss rubbed the bridge of her nose and let out a tired sigh. "I see you two are going to need some handholding with this one." She paused to take a deep breath before continuing. "Alright, let's start simple. So far, I've gathered that whatever is going on between you two is because of something that happened a long time ago and it's made you upset with each other. Other than that, I have no idea what in heaven's name happened." Weiss had held up two fingers to demonstrate the facts she knew and turned to face her roommate. "Ruby, I know you wanted to explain yourself last Friday – why don't you start? What happened?" _Great, she's starting with her – now I'm going to sound like the bad guy._

The brunette stole a quick glance at Yang with sad eyes before turning to her roommate; no doubt she found it far more comfortable to talk with her. "Well, it all started when Yang came home for the summer two years ago. She's usually super excited and stuff and ready to go on adventures and stuff, and back then, that's exactly what I saw, but…" Yang didn't think it was possible, but Ruby's voice got even more weighted with melancholy. "That's not what I felt. Like, she smiled and joked around like always, but it kept on seeming like something she threw together right as I would turn around and see her —I couldn't help but feel like it was all to hide something." Weiss's mild bewilderment didn't escape Yang's attention. For as long as she'd known her, Yang had been upbeat and energetic, so it must have sounded strange to hear about when she had been in the dumps. _I'm only human though…_

"I didn't do anything for a few days, thinking that Yang was just in a bad mood or something, but even after a week, she'd still be sad. If anything, it only got worse. I tried talking to her about it, but she'd just give me that half-grin and make up some excuse for how she was feeling. 'It's just that time of the month.' 'I didn't get enough sleep last night.' 'I had a bad dream.'" The blonde winced upon hearing those excuses being recited back to her. She remembered how stupid they were; Yang wasn't fooling her sister, just herself.

"When that didn't work, I tried cheering her up by talking about how things had been going for me – how me and my friends celebrated our graduation from Signal High, how I found out that a lot of them were going to the same college as me, how my final grades turned out – and it actually seemed to work. Yang was really happy for me, and I was happy that she was happy and that I helped. But…" Ruby looked straight into Yang's eyes as she paused, and Weiss followed suit. The older sister wanted desperately to look away in shame and escape the subtle yet piercing gazes, but she wouldn't let herself do it. After all, Ruby wasn't running away from the memory, so how could she? No, this was something she had to face, painful or not.

"The next morning, I woke up late as usual and went down for breakfast. Dad had made strawberry pancakes for us, and it looked like Yang hadn't gotten to them yet, which _never_ happens. Every time we have pancakes, she always beats me to them, so, of course, I took the opportunity to stuff as much as I could into my mouth before she could stop me." A ghost of a smile appeared on Ruby's lips. It was no happy memory, but the way she spoke about it must have triggered a hint of nostalgia. The feeling didn't last long.

"After the 5th one, though, sis hadn't come down yet – probably had some bad sleep again – so I called out to her from the kitchen and said that if she didn't come down in 30 seconds, I would've finished all the pancakes. That ought to have worked, right? But I didn't hear anything from her room. I was a little worried at that point, but I didn't dare think that something had happened to her; she was just sleeping in really late, or maybe she wasn't hungry yet, that had to be it." Yang fidgeted in her seat, anxious at how Ruby was building up to the moment. It sounded like such a good idea to her at the time, but many things she had done two years ago were like that.

"And then, I opened the door to her room and, man, it was a _mess_. Like, I know Yang is messy, but this was just a disaster." Even though this happened ages ago, Yang could still notice a certain annoyance in her voice, a welcome shift from her gloomy tone for the evening. Even if it was only just for a moment. "Her clothes were everywhere, drawers were spilling over with stuff, her bedsheets were all messed up, and… Yang wasn't there, and neither was her backpack. I panicked and searched for something, anything, to tell me where she went; considering how shitty she had been feeling, I didn't like the ideas that popped into my head. I soon found my answer, though, when I noticed a wrinkled piece of paper left on the desk with Yang's terrible handwriting. She… she…"

Ruby's voice quaked right before she stopped herself and reached down into her pockets and pulled out her wallet, much to the confusion of the other two girls at the table. Neither Weiss nor Yang didn't seem very certain where the little brunette was headed, but once she produced a folded, slightly crumpled piece of paper, her sister realized it had to be the letter in question. Yang remembered how she hastily tore out a scrap piece of paper out of her notebook to scrawl down her message before leaving, but she never imagined that it would become so important to Ruby. _After all this time, she still holds that bit of me close to her, _she thought ruefully.

Ruby unfolded the lined paper and stared at it for a while. Her face contorted with emotions rising and falling on the surface. Weiss, wanting to move on with the story, cautiously probed Ruby for an explanation. "What is it, Ruby?"

No response.

"Is that the piece of paper you were talking about?"

Ruby nodded, eyes fixed on the page in her hands. Nothing more than that.

Uncertain of what to do, Weiss's mouth opened and closed wordlessly until she asked, "Do… do you want me to read it?" She extended her hand out to Ruby with her offer.

Ruby shook her head with a quiet "No" and began to recite what was written.

"_Dear Dad and Sis,_" she began before stopping suddenly. Yang was almost annoyed with how Ruby was taking her sweet time to read the letter, but she wasn't the one who was left behind without a proper goodbye. Ruby a few deep breaths to calm herself down as much as she could and started again.

"_Dear Dad and Sis, you might have noticed that I've been feeling a little down recently. Well, that's a bit of an understatement – I'm feeling really shitty right now. Sorry, Rubes, I know I'm not supposed to say that around you._" Ruby laughed breathlessly upon reading that. Yang didn't know if that was her attempt to lighten the mood, but the emptiness of it only made her more tense.

"_I know why I'm feeling this way, and I know no matter how much you want to help me, there isn't anything you can do. This is something I have to figure out for myself, and I'll be back once I've got everything in my crappy head sorted._" Ruby sniffled a bit, wiping her nose before continuing feebly. "_I'm sorry that I have to do this, but I hope you'll understand._"

Ruby had to stop again, sniffling a few times more. "_Goodbye. Yang._"

Tears were welling up in Ruby's eyes and the letter shook a little in her hands, but she was able to choke back her sadness for just a little longer. "I thought maybe I had said something wrong, something to make you mad at me for not understanding how you felt, and for the next few weeks, I couldn't stop thinking about what I could have done differently to convince you to stay." Ruby speech grew increasingly frantic. "Dad was no help; he just shut down like he's always done. He said that you'd have a plan and that you'd be fine, but I wasn't so sure. Hell, _I _wasn't fine then." Ruby seemed to have noticed her voice rising because she sat back in her seat and collected herself.

"Soon, we got another letter about you, but it was from someone strange – an officer in the Valerian Army." For the first time in a while, Ruby's eyes lit up, though Yang wasn't sure it was from joy or because of the light bouncing off her glistening tears. "On the one hand, I was so happy to hear that you were still alive and well, but on the other hand, I had yet more questions to ask, and you still weren't there." Yang swore the air around the table grew cooler in just then.

Ruby then sprang up all of a sudden, leaning forward with her hands on the table and looking at her sister square in the eye. The brunette would've looked in that moment if she didn't look so sad. "Why didn't you tell me about deciding to join the army? Why join the army in the first place? How was the army supposed to solve your problems?" The force of Ruby's words shook both Weiss and Yang, who jumped in their sets slightly.

"I tried to reach you in every way I could – phone, email, even sending letters to nearest army base – but I never heard back from you." All of Ruby's trepidation from earlier had gone out the window as she continued her tirade against Yang. "Eventually, I had practically given up all hope with you and just accepted that I wasn't going to have a big sister anymore." Ouch. Those words cut deep into Yang.

"And then… you show up out of nowhere three days ago as if nothing happened." Ruby let those words hang in the tense air for a moment before continuing. "So there you have it. That's what happened to us."

The three of them sat in silence. A waiter came by with their orders in the meantime and set down heaping bowls of food in front of each girl. He must have noticed the situation at hand and asked if there was anything else he could bring, but Weiss quickly dismissed him. At any other time, they would have immediately dug into their meals, but they were so transfixed by Ruby's revelation that none of them cared. Ruby started playing with the noodles absentmindedly as if to signal her desire to withdraw from the conversation; easily enough, Weiss turned her attention to Yang.

"You certainly have a lot of explaining to do," she stated coolly, leveling an unfriendly gaze at Yang. Yang figured that since the Weiss had known Ruby longer than herself, she wasn't likely to earn the heiress's sympathy. She even edged closer to where her roommate was sitting, making the situation at hand much more confrontational than Yang was comfortable with. Sure, she didn't expect everything to be all sunshine and rainbows, but she had hoped that when Weiss offered to hear the both of them out, she wouldn't take sides. Regardless, it was time for her fess up.

In truth, Yang didn't want to say anything. She had hoped that it might be enough to simply say that she needed time to herself, time to sort out the thoughts that flooded her head back then, but Yang knew that answer wouldn't satisfy anyone. She hoped that she would not have to reveal any of the wounds in her past. Most of all, though, Yang hoped that she could go through the rest of her days without thinking of… _her_. Not her dark hair, not her shining amber eyes, and especially not what she did on that fateful night. Yet as she started caving under the pressure from the other two girls sitting at that table, Yang knew that she had no choice but to peel back the bandage.

Meekly, the blonde finally said, "I am not proud of my decision back then. I never wanted this to happen. I never wanted to leave Ruby in the cold like this, but I needed to."

Weiss remained unconvinced. "And what was so important that you had to abandon your sister?" she asked, not bothering to hide her displeasure.

Yang stopped herself from wincing at the heiress's tone and steeled herself before continuing. _Here goes nothing_. "I had a friend back then. Heck, I'd even call her my best friend. We met before our first day of college started when I found out she was my roommate. I didn't know very many people here in Vale, so she naturally became my first friend. She wasn't the kind that I would usually make friends with – she's quiet, I'm loud, she liked to stay in, I liked to go out, she worked hard, I hardly worked – but we just kinda worked, you know? I got her to break her out of her shell, and when she did talk, she always had something insightful to say. She was the coolest cat you'd ever meet."

The blonde paused as she got caught up in the nostalgia of those better times, her mouth creasing into a small smile. However, she knew those were all but distant memories at that point and returned to her story. "But…" Yang felt her muscles tense up and her fist clench under the table as she remembered the last morning she saw her friend. The shock from back then still felt just as real to her at that moment. Her body trembled and her mind swam violently as she attempted to quell the old memories. No. There was no way she could tell them how her world got turned upside down. But… she owed her new friend and sister a proper explanation.

"…one day, I learned that she wasn't who she said she was," Yang said evenly, managing to keep her emotions from surfacing. "She was never the friend I thought she was, and, worse, she broke my trust. That was almost two years ago, the morning after the last day of class, but even now, I still hate thinking about it." _Just like right now_, she added to herself. Still, Yang knew that she wasn't going to get any sympathy for that from Ruby or Weiss, so she continued on.

"Like Ruby said, I came home that summer with the shittiest mood ever. I was still torn up about my friend's… actions, but I tried to put on a good face for the family – I didn't want my little sis to think anything was wrong. That didn't work, of course, and she got worried about me." Yang noticed Ruby's face darken, and she knew perfectly well why. It probably took all her willpower not to blurt out her scathing response, which only made Yang feel worse – even in that moment, Ruby was still nice enough to let her finish. "I couldn't tell her what had happened, though, because as much as she means well, there was nothing Ruby could do or say to help me-"

"What, just like right now, how you're still not telling us what had happened?" Ruby interjected suddenly, leaning forward slightly. There was a bitterness in her voice that was mirrored in her expression – clearly, she wasn't interested in hearing Yang's excuses.

"If you would just _let me finish_, I just might be able to explain that," she returned with narrow eyes. Sister or not, Yang didn't take kindly to anyone who interrupted her. Once Ruby leaned back to her original seat, the older sister continued with a sigh. "As I was saying, this wasn't a problem that Ruby or Dad could really handle, and I needed to stay away from Vale for a while, so I got the idea to join the army."

"And how exactly does that solve anything?" Weiss asked incredulously.

"I needed to be somewhere different to clear my head, but there wasn't much opportunity for employment for a college dropout like me outside the city other than flipping burgers at a fast food joint, but that wasn't going to be how I spent the rest of my days." Yang started to twirl up some noodles with her chopsticks as she remembered the panic that started to set in after being away from home for a few days. She had left without a second thought, so sure that something would pop up for her to do, but it quickly became apparent that she wasn't going to survive in the outside world. Yang needed purpose and structure desperately.

"About a week later, I was in a gas station, buying some crappy junk food keep myself going, when a very tall guy in fatigues stepped inside. I honestly don't know what he saw in the lost, stupid girl carrying everything she had in a duffel bag – maybe he just knew – but he walked right up me with a smile and a handshake. Turns out this guy was an army recruiter, and through him I joined the army." Yang took the noodles she had spun about her chopsticks and shoved them into her mouth. She was done talking for a while, and food was the perfect escape from the conversation, even if for just a moment.

Neither of the other girls were interested in their meals, though. "And how did that work out?" Weiss asked. There was nothing in her demeanor to indicate that she was judging Yang, but the blonde couldn't help but feel like she was being interrogated.

Yang took her sweet time chewing on her food despite the stares being leveled at her. Once there was no more food to swallow, Yang continued her story. "Well, I'd be lying if I said it was all sunshine and rainbows. I mean, being in the army did what I had hoped – giving order to my messy life – but it was so damn frustrating. Had to wake up super early every day, had to follow a ton of dumb rules, got into trouble every now and again. Still, it helped me. It helped me to bury my thoughts so I didn't have to carry them around all the time."

Ruby slammed her fists on the table, rattling their bowls of food and capturing everyone's attention. There was going to be no calm resolution to this situation."Yang, you keep talking about how much of a burden this was for you to bear, but why didn't you let me help you share it? Sure, you still might have not wanted to tell me what was going on, and maybe if you did, I still wouldn't understand what it was all about, but I would still be there for you. But no, you thought I would be too much of a burden as well and took on everything yourself."

Yang almost didn't notice it, but Ruby's voice grew more desperate and less angry – even her silver eyes seemed like they were pleading with her. "Why, sis? Why don't you ever let me help you, even when you know you need it? I wanted so badly to make you feel happy again, but instead you c-cast me aside to go join the army. Y-you didn't even let me say goodbye to you!"

The girl started drawing in quick, short breaths, and her quivering mouth made it difficult for her to finish her next few words.

"It's j-just like… just li-l-like with… M… Mo…"

And in that moment, it all became so very clear to Yang. _I was just like Mom. Mom, who died in a car accident hours after Ruby had gotten in a fight with her…_

In what seemed to be one fluid motion, Yang jumped out of her seat, dashed over to where the now-crying Ruby was, and wrapped herself around her. _I had abandoned her like Mom had._ Just that thought alone invalidated everything she did up until that point. _I ran away for selfish reasons and left Ruby like this_.

Whatever fortitude or self-control Ruby had up until that point evaporated the moment the blonde hugged her tight, and her weeping quickly became loud sobbing. Each painful gasp and sharp convulsion from her little sister cut deep into Yang.

_I did this to her. It's my fault she's been holding in this sadness for so long._

She could feel Ruby's runny nose and many tears dampen her shirt, but it didn't matter to her at the moment.

_Even when I tried to keep my sadness away from her, I still made Ruby cry. Gods, what kind of sister makes her own cry?_

She tried to summon up the will to say something, anything, to begin to comfort her little sister, but everything she could think of seemed meaningless. Nothing could atone for what she had done to Ruby. Yang's eyes started welling up with tears.

_What have I done?_

"I'm sorry, Ruby. So, so… so…"

She could barely hold back her emotions anymore. The guilt of abandoning her sister, the shame of acting like such a coward, the fear of having ruined Ruby's life; all those feelings assaulted Yang. Some people from the other tables had turned around in their seats and stared at the two sisters – no, only at Yang. They were judging Yang, judging her for the two long years of sadness she made Ruby endure.

And then there was Weiss. Yang couldn't read anything from those icy blue eyes. There was nothing there but cold disdain. Like she was looking at something hideous. A monster.

_I am a monster._

The levee broke. Tears poured freely down Yang's face as squeezed her sister closer to her. They were a sobbing, pathetic mess. "I'm here, R-ruby," Yang choked out between sobs. "I'm not g-going anywhere anym-more."

Yang rocked the two of them back and forth gently. More people around them continued staring at their pitiful little scene, but she didn't care. A little embarrassment was nothing compared to the shame she felt for abandoning Ruby like this – hell, she deserved every bit of it. She was an embarrassment of a sister. Still, even after all that, the little brunette was in her arms, and at that point, there was nothing more she could ask for in the world.

_I'm never going to abandon anyone like this again._

They never did finish their Grand Mistrals.

* * *

Wiping the last of the tears from her cheek, Yang lazily watched the lights of the city pass through the bus window as she and the other two girls made their way back to Beacon.

To her right was a sleepy Ruby, who was resting her head on her sister's shoulder – the poor girl had exhausted all her energy when all her emotions poured out not more than an hour ago. She looked so peaceful, with only her puffy eyes as a reminder of her sadness from earlier. Yang went to pat her head in comfort but hesitated; the guilt of having inflicted such anguish on Ruby weighed heavy on her, and she felt like she didn't deserve the simple pleasure of taking comfort in her sister. _Not after I denied that to her for so long, _she thought bitterly to herself.

Instead, she looked past Ruby's resting form and found Weiss looking straight at her, but the heiress quickly turned away without saying a word. She had been particularly cold toward Yang ever since they had left A Simple Wok, and Yang couldn't blame her. Weiss had just witnessed a glimpse of her ugly history and no doubt she was reconsidering how she saw Yang. Perhaps she wouldn't want to stick around her anymore? That would mean that she'd probably quit going to the gym, but as much as that would disappoint Yang, she didn't mind too much. At long last, she was back together with her little Ruby, and at that moment, that's all she cared about.

It was several minutes before the bus finally came to a halt in front of the Beacon dormitories. It was still a bit of a walk to get to Ironwood Hall, but they weren't going to get much closer by bus. Weiss immediately jumped to her feet and made her way off the bus without looking back at the sisters, but she still waited for them on the sidewalk, glaring impatiently at Yang. Yang tried to get out of her seat, but Ruby wouldn't budge from her shoulder. _The ride must've rocked her to sleep,_ she concluded to herself as she attempted to shake her gently awake.

"Hey, Rubes, we're here, it's time to go home," Yang whispered in her sister's ear, but with no effect. She repeated herself a little louder, this time shaking Ruby a little harder, yet she had dozed off like a log. At that point, the bus driver gave her an annoyed glare, so the older sister thought quickly and wrapped Ruby's limbs around her to carry her out. A couple people on the bus stared at her quizzically, but Yang didn't pay them any attention.

Once outside, Weiss huffed at her, "Took you long enough." Yang didn't care for her attitude, but she supposed that she wasn't really in a position to ask for kinder treatment. Besides, she'd warm up soon enough, right?

The three of them made it back to the dorm without much incident. It had been a long time since Yang gave her sister a piggyback ride, and Ruby had grown a significant amount since then. Still, Yang regularly lifted heavier weights in the gym, so her small body was nothing. In fact, Yang couldn't stop herself from smiling just a little bit upon remembering how she used to carry her around all the time when they were little. Those were simpler times; no worries about her moral character or her standing as a sister.

Yang was so lost in thought that she almost forgot that Weiss was walking beside her. She was awfully quiet, but Yang figured that it wasn't for lack of things to say. She could tell by her hurried pace and rigid posture that the heiress was tense – was she holding back something? Whatever it may be, Yang was happy to wait to find out whatever she might have to say.

After scaling the accursed stairs – _honestly, would it kill the university to install an elevator in this place?_ – Weiss led the two sisters into her room, her expression still uncomfortably blank. By that point, Ruby had fallen into deep sleep, as Yang could tell by the heavy, rhythmic breathing that was tickling her neck. She took in the room for the first time, now that she actually was permitted to enter.

Unsurprisingly, she could easily figure out whose side was whose; Weiss's bed and desk were both neatly organized, while Ruby's scattered stuff defined the boundaries of her half. _Some things never change, _Yang quipped to herself with a small smile. She carried Ruby to the edge of her bed and gently bend down to let her off. Even in her drowsy state, her sister seemed to instinctively know that she was in bed, for the moment her body touched the covers, she started to wrap herself up in them. A feeling of warmth washed over Yang as she witnessed this, her nostalgia taking her back to happier times. _Well, this is a happy time, too, I guess,_ the blonde mentally interjected, and she went to rustle Ruby's hair with her fingers. Much to her delight, this elicited a small smile from the tired brunette.

Yang didn't realize that Weiss was still at the door until she called out to her, saying, "Yang, can I talk to you for a moment?" Her voice was calm yet deliberate, and Yang knew whatever she had to say was important. But why did she wait until then to talk?

"Sure," the blonde replied cautiously, failing to hide her unease. "What is it?"

"Actually, I'd prefer it if you'd step out here," Weiss said, gesturing her head away from the door. That certainly didn't sound ominous to Yang, and she definitely didn't gulp down hard in response, but she'd had done enough running away for a while, so she might as well face the music. Yang rose from the side of her sister's bed and walked slowly back out onto the walkway.

"Close the door," Weiss said curtly.

Yang obeyed, but still rose a confused eyebrow. "You know Ruby can't hea-"

_SMACK_

Before she could finish her sentence, though, a stinging pain slammed into her cheek with a loud "clap!" The blonde quickly turned to face the offending party before her, arm still outstretched. Angry words were about to burst forth from Yang's mouth, but she was quickly cut off by Weiss's own.

"How dare you do that to your sister?! How would you ever think it's a good idea to abandon your family for your own stupid, selfish reasons?" Weiss was absolutely livid, shoving an accusatory finger in Yang's face as she shouted. Yang had not expected such an explosive reaction. "You've shown yourself to be a bit of an idiot before, but I didn't think you were capable of doing something this horrible to your own sister! Flawed as she may be, Ruby is a wonderful girl, and with the way you treat her, you don't deserve someone that kind as your sister!"

And there it was. The anger that Weiss had pent up inside her finally surfaced, and it hit Yang like a freight train. The trainer didn't dare say anything, lest she accidently set her off again.

Weiss's huffing and puffing died down after a little bit – that must have been most of the anger that had been bottled up inside her – and she composed herself before resuming. "I don't know if I've ever mentioned this, but I have a sister as well," she started solemnly, yet without losing her severe tone. "Winter's her name. She's a year and a half older than I, and I never really had the chance to be close to her. As soon as she was of age to start learning what it took to be an heiress to the Schnee family name, I spent less and less time with her until I only ever saw her at mealtimes. I didn't know why she was gone, but I hated it. I always wanted to have a sister, but instead I got a ghost."

Weiss shook her head. "I never was never given the opportunity to have a meaningful relationship with my sister, so it's insulting to see how you vanished from Ruby's life as if it didn't matter. The way she talked about you… you were everything to her." At that point, Weiss didn't sound angry anymore, just disappointed. "I don't care what kind of good reason you had, but family should be something precious that you never throw away. Take it from someone who never had one."

Yang was positively stunned, both by Weiss's harsh words and her bleak story. Her attitude, however, was unsurprising; Yang knew that her actions two years ago were unacceptable, but still she somehow hoped that once she faced her sister, all would be well. And she knew that a rational person like Weiss would never take kindly to her story, but Yang did not expect such an intense reaction from the heiress. Perhaps this was the end of their short friendship? She wouldn't blame her for wanting that – after all, she didn't owe Yang anything.

Weiss hadn't said anything more, but she continued to glare at her expectantly in the silence. Was… was she expecting an answer to that? Yang had enough of defending herself; all she wanted now was some semblance of peace. With shoulders slumped down in defeat, Yang quietly said, "I'm sorry."

The shorter girl cocked her eyebrow in confusion. "Why are you saying that to me? You should be telling that to Ruby, not me."

"No, you deserve an apology from me as well." Weiss eyed her cautiously, but her silence was permission enough for Yang to continue. "When I first met you at the gym, I saw someone who was nervous and unsure of herself, frustrated that things weren't working out your way, and there was even a hint of sadness to your words when we talked. Back then, I saw a lot of Ruby in you – hell, you two are even the same age – and right then, I told myself that I had to do everything in my power to help you out. Of course, it can't absolve me of my guilt for abandoning Ruby, but maybe, just maybe, I could prove to myself that I wasn't a complete scumbag by helping you."

Yang noticed that Weiss's expression had softened significantly when she mentioned the comparison to Ruby – perhaps she herself saw some truth in those words – but she still continued with her apology. "Well, I _thought_ I had done an alright job of cheering you up, but then I dragged you into this whole family mess that you never needed to see." Yang started pacing the walkway as she feverishly tried to explain herself. "I _am_ glad that you could help me get my act together and for setting up this whole thing today, but all I've given you in return is stress and anger. So, I'm sorry. I saw something in you that I shouldn't have and it's because of that I got you roped into something you shouldn't have ever had to deal with. I'm happy for what you've done, but I'm sorry that all this had to happen."

Once the blonde finished her apology, she found it difficult to look Weiss in the eye. _It's probably time for me to go – I've said what I needed to say, and I don't think Weiss has anything more for me_. With that thought, Yang pivoted around to face the stairs and made her exit.

Before she could take another step, though, Yang felt cool fingers tugging on her arm. Was Weiss not done with her yet? Yang couldn't fathom anything else that the heiress might have to say to her, but if wasn't planning on seeing her again for a long time, she might as well hear her out. When she turned around, though, Yang was surprised to see that the face looking back at her was a sympathetic one.

"Yang, don't get me wrong, I still think your treatment of Ruby up until tonight was appalling," she started cooly and evenly. Yang tensed up in anticipation for more scolding. "But… at the same time, I know you're not a terrible person. Sure, you've done some very stupid things in the time that I've gotten to know you, but that just means you're an idiot."

The trainer couldn't help but laugh at this comment. "Weiss, if this is your idea of cheering people up, you're sure doing a bang-up job," she quipped.

"If you would just let me _finish_, you'll see what I mean," Weiss retorted lightly. Yang quickly composed herself after that. "As I was saying, you may be an idiot, but your heart is in a good place."

Yang was caught off guard by the compliment. "After what you learned today, you still think that?"

Weiss paused, seemingly pondering over this question. "I do. I mean, you were right about me when I first came to Gold's for the first time – I _was_ in a bad place, and if it weren't for you, I can't imagine being much better. And from what I've gathered, you may have left your sister behind, but I can see guilt still weighs heavily on you." The heiress sighed as she rubbed her brow - this whole affair had tired her out a great deal.

"I still don't know just what was so bad about what happened to you two years ago that you thought abandoning your family was the appropriate choice, but here you are now, back with Ruby. You've made a mistake and now you're correcting it. A little late, of course, but better late than never, as they say."

All of a sudden, Yang couldn't stop her lips from quivering. She surely didn't deserve anyone to treat her kindly after all that she's done, but here Weiss was, extending the olive branch to her with a soft smile. How could this be? Was she finally headed in the right direction in life? All she did was face her guilt and admit her shortcomings, and somehow, that was enough to finally reunite with her sister, and it was all thanks to the short, sarcastic, stressed-out and yet sympathetic girl standing before her. In the short time since Yang befriended her, Weiss had already made a dramatic change to her life, one that she'll never forget. _How can I thank her for what she's done?_

Without thinking, Yang pulled in a startled Weiss for a tight embrace. She wanted to say something sweet to the heiress in return for all she'd done, but all that came out were the sobs she had been fighting back down. The blonde held onto her friend, seeking the same comfort Ruby had found in her earlier, and rested her head on Weiss's. Weiss had tensed up at first in reaction to the sudden hug, but she quickly relaxed and let those muscular arms hold her close and returned the gesture. "You big crybaby…" she teased lightly, resting her head on Yang's ample chest as it rose and fell with each of her sobs.

The two of them stayed like that for quite some time, and it wasn't until a bit after Yang's crying finally died down when they let go of each other. Yang immediately noticed that Weiss's hair was dotted with glistening tears and messed up from her tight grip on the girl. "You look like shit," she joked with a weak yet genuine laugh.

"You should see yourself," Weiss replied with a teasing smile. "You're an absolute mess right now."

"Yeah… yeah, I really am," Yang said as wiped away her tears and sniffed up the last of the snot that was clogging her nose. _Damn, that sounded disgusting._ "Thank you, Weiss, for everything you've done for me. I really don't know if I would have ever been able to face Ruby without you kicking my ass into shape."

"It probably would've taken another few months before your guilt consumed you from the inside out," the heiress quipped, earning a pained expression from Yang. "As for kicking your ass, consider that payment for all those times you gave me extra sets at the gym."

Yang grinned for the first time that evening. A big, stupid grin. "Please, that's nothing – I'd make you work out more even if all I got was a Klondike bar." After Weiss shot her an annoyed glare, the blonde chuckled and continued on. "But for real, thanks. You've been an awesome friend, even if we've known each other for less than a month."

The heiress, who was straightening her tangled hair at the moment, paused at the mention of "friend", which made Yang worry. _Does she not see me as the same?_ With uncertainty, Weiss said, "Well, that's what friends do for each other, right? You've helped me, and I've helped you. I don't suspect we'll stop doing that for each other."

"You suspect right," Yang replied with a wink, a gesture to which Weiss responded with a subtle crease of her mouth. "Anyway, you've got classes tomorrow, and I've got another early start to work as well, so I should probably get back home and leave you be."

"How are you getting home? You didn't bring your motorcycle with you."

"Well, I'll just-" She had forgotten about that one little detail somehow. "Crap, it's still parked near A Simple Wok, isn't it?"

"That would be my guess." Weiss said "guess", but her smug face showed that she knew that fact for some time and was just waiting for Yang to realize it. She shook her head as she suppressed a giggle. "You're really hopeless, aren't you?"

"Heh, that seems to be the theme for today, but fret not! Come tomorrow, I'll be one hundred percent Yang Xiao Long again."

"You say that like that changes anything."

"Ooo, laying on the sass tonight, eh, short stuff?" Seeing the smaller girl's huffing was just what the doctor ordered. "Alright, I'll see you tomorrow, then – same time?"

"Of course; wouldn't want to miss another muscle torture session now, would I?" Weiss replied with a roll of her eyes, but her trainer knew she meant nothing by it. She started making moves toward her door, but as she turned the handle, Weiss stopped to regard the blonde one last time. "Oh, and get some good sleep tonight, Yang. It would be a shame to see you still in as sorry shape as you are now."

"Oh, we'll be seeing about how in shape we are tomorrow, alright," Yang returned before the heiress closed the door behind her. "G'night, Weiss."

"Good night, Yang." And with that, Yang was by herself. She didn't know why, but she felt fixed at that spot for what seemed like ages before remember how she needed to retrieve Bumblebee. This late, it would take at least an hour to get her bike back and return to her apartment, so there was no time to waste if she wanted to get enough sleep to not feel grumpy the following morning.

As she bounded down the stairs from the fifth floor, Yang couldn't stop smiling. No matter how painful today had been, she was able to mend the rift between her and little Ruby, and Weiss was supportive the whole way through in her own way.

Yang was absolutely certain of one thing: _today is the beginning of something wonderful._

* * *

_BETA: Jefardi_

_EDITORS: Jefardi, condor700, and Just_one_more__

* * *

**Remember how I said I wasn't going to have yet another 2-month delay between the last chapter and this one? Yeah, I do too. 2 months have passed, and here we are. Last time, I had a bit of writer's block and exams to study for, but this delay was a little different.**

**My friend Jefardi, for whom I edit the super cool story "Acceptance", was reading through my early draft for this chapter and ran across a little peculiarity in the plot, so he pointed it out to me. Turns out this "little peculiarity" was actually a massive plot hole that required me to sit down and reorganize a good third of the future story. Understandably, I felt really damn irritated that I had to sit down and go back to the drawing board, but it was necessary work no matter what I felt about it. After a couple weeks, I had finally came to a solution which thankfully salvaged a good portion of my plans that I thought were doomed, but at that point I was so damn burnt out from agonizing over the projected plot that I had little energy to work. On top of that, this was _not_ an easy chapter to write by any stretch of the imagination. The beginning and end came to me naturally, but I struggled a lot with nailing the actual intervention between Ruby and Yang. It was too easy to make it into blocks of monologue – it almost still is – but I did my best to break it up in a manner that wouldn't be difficult to read. These things along with my travels at the beginning of August (went backpacking along a portion of the Appalachian Trail and attended RTX) pushed back work on this chapter for way, way too long, but I'm so happy that I've finally gotten it out. Thank you all for your patience!**

**So what were the results of the changes I mentioned? Nothing major so far, but I have retconned the bit about Yang being smug/angry upon seeing Ruby for the first time. After writing this chapter, it didn't make any sense anymore, so I changed it. Also, a slightly minor change happened during the time of writing this, being Winter's age. I've always seen her as the little sister, but RTX showed me that that was certainly not going to be valid anymore (when they announced her at the RWBY panel, I couldn't help but groan as it messed up that detail for this chapter lol). Another change that I ought to mention would be my release schedule, or the lack thereof. Ironically, now that school has started, I'm actually going to have a better time of writing than I had over the summer. I'm not going to make any promises about times of release or anything like that, especially since this is going to be my final year of college, but I'll be in a better environment for writing, which should translate to more frequent chapters. I have high hopes, at least.**

**Anyway, enough of that – how about that chapter, eh? This is sort of like the climax and resolution to the first arc of Feel the Burn, so to speak, and there's a LOT going on here. Ruby and Yang finally sort their shit out, we get a deeper glimpse into Yang's past (and bits of the family), I squeezed in a fun season metaphor, and we end on a good note between Weiss and Yang. Some of you might be wondering when the Freezerburn shipping will start, and all I can say to that is what I've said before: this is going to be a very slow burn, but the next arc will feature the beginning of something like that (keyword being "something"), so stay tuned! As always, I'd love to hear y'all's thoughts on how this chapter turned out and what you're looking forward to in the future now that Ruby and Yang are reunited for good.**

**Well, balls, this is a long-ass note, isn't it? Alright, that's all for now! Coming soon: Weiss and the sisters take some time to unwind for real.**


	10. Chapter 10

Weiss finished the last of her pull-ups, practically crumpling on the floor as she let go of the bar. Yang had to give it to her, though – the extra weight on her ankles surely would have dragged Weiss down, but she pushed through the pain anyway.

"Hey, not bad for your first try!" the trainer exclaimed as she held out her hand for a high-five. Weiss swung her hand lamely at it and missed completely. "Although _that_ could use some work."

"Oh, shut up," Weiss shot back between heavy breaths. "Not everyone has the insane stamina that your family apparently does."

Yang knew that she meant Ruby by that comment, but her little sister's energy was of a different sort. She could yammer on and on about the things she learned at school and did get from one place to another extraordinarily quickly, but the thought of Ruby attempting to lift weights made the blonde snicker uncontrollably. "What's so funny?" Weiss demanded.

"Oh, it's nothing. Just thought about how wrong you are," Yang retorted with a grin. "Ruby and I might both be energetic, but she'd burn out like a fuse doing anything I do here. Besides, it's not about what you got, it's about what you can do with what you have." She then offered her hand to the fallen heiress, who promptly accepted it and allowed herself to be pulled up.

"Well, having more still means you can screw up more often without having to worry so much." As if to emphasize her point, Weiss attempted to stretch out her limbs until Yang could _hear_ how sore they were. "I bet Ruby would have a much better time of this than I am."

Yang tilted her head thoughtfully to the side, considering Weiss's assessment of her little sister. "True. Then again, you're the one out here, not her, so it doesn't really matter what Ruby does or doesn't have." She slapped her trainee on the back and continued. "Anyway, don't sell yourself short. You've come a long way in these past few weeks. You even know how a treadmill works!" That last comment elicited a groan from Weiss.

"I would _really_ like to forget that ever happened, thank you very much," she said begrudgingly, ignoring Yang's laughter. Weiss looked up at the clock up on the far wall and froze up momentarily. "Crap, it's five minutes past the hour!"

"I don't have another client after you, so you're not cutting into my time or anything." Of course, Yang meant more than that. She quite enjoyed Weiss's company, especially after the events of the past weekend. Speaking of—

"No, that means I missed the bus back to the dorms!" Weiss grunted in annoyance, wringing her hands.

"I don't see how that's a problem," Yang said plainly. "I'm sure there are more buses that'll come by later, and it's not like I'm gonna kick you out of here. I might have been busy, but you're always welcome to stay as long as you want here."

This answer didn't seem to satisfy Weiss. "Yes, and I thank you for your offer, but the next bus in twenty minutes, and that's twenty extra minutes of sitting around in these… _disgusting_ clothes." She gestured to her current garments, which were indeed thoroughly soaked through with sweat. Even Yang had to agree that it was a little gross.

"Well," Yang started, playfully drawing out the "L". "If it makes you feel any better, I have some news that might brighten your mood."

Weiss raised an uncertain eyebrow. In the weeks that she'd gotten to know Yang, one thing was for certain: Yang was almost never up to any good. "And what, may I ask, is this news?"

"Well, it's got two parts. First, you don't have to come tomorrow—"

"_Ohthankgods_," Weiss quickly breathed out in relief. "I don't know if I could make it to Sunday for a break this week."

"Wow, tuckered out already? You were doing so well last week," Yang teased.

"Well, _sometimes_ I don't want to have to torture myself like this every day."

"Everyday _but_ Sunday," Yang quickly corrected. Even someone as dedicated as she was knew the value of a proper rest every once in awhile.

"Right."

"Anyway, that's not the best part." The heiress once again returned her attention to her trainer, a cautious look still painted on her face. "No, the best part is why you get a day off."

"I don't suppose you're going to say that it's because we're going to a spa or something instead?" Weiss must've known how ridiculous that proposal was, but after Yang saw the hopeful look on her face, the blonde couldn't help but keep a mental note of that. _Princess likes to be pampered, I see_.

Yang shook her head. "Nah, something better. A while back, I skipped out on going out with a friend of mine and promised that I would come the next time he was out and about. That next time happens to be tomorrow night, and I—" Yang pointed at herself with her thumbs "—want you—" and then toward Weiss with her fingers "—to come with me." Yang paused for a moment, crossing her arms proudly as she waited for the idea to sink in.

Weiss didn't look nearly as excited as Yang was expecting. "Wait, by going out, you mean to say that we will be going to a club and all that?"

"Yep!"

"With alcohol and people I don't know?"

"Of course! Well, only as much alcohol and socializing as you want, but you get the idea." Yang's voice grew a little more serious as she stood up straight and level. "Consider it my treat to you for helping out with my little sis."

Weiss's defeated sigh and hand on her forehead were also not part of the response Yang was expecting. _Maybe she's got plans already?_

"Yang, I'm glad you thought of including me in this plan, and thank you for the offer, but I'm going to have to pass on this. Partying isn't really my thing, anyway."

The blonde frowned. "You sure? I guarantee that you'll like my friend Sun – even if he is a bit of a handful – and I personally know the owner of this one really sweet club."

Weiss gave Yang a polite smile but shook her head. "Thank you, but no," she said a little more firmly.

Truth be told, Yang was a little disappointed with this response. She had been looking forward to treating Weiss to something loose and free ever since she helped her reconcile with Ruby. Of course, there were other ways of doing so, but seeing how Sun had invited her to party that weekend, it seemed like an all too perfect idea. There was also a part of Yang that was curious to see what the cool heiress was like when unwound with a little drink. Nevertheless, if Weiss was unwilling, she wouldn't press the matter any further.

"Alrighty then. Well, you've still got tomorrow off, so you get to relax for an extra day at least." Yang flashed Weiss a broad grin. "And if you change your mind, my invitation still stands, 'kay?"

Weiss returned the smile. "Thanks for understanding."

"Sure! I'm not always in the mood to party myself, so I see where you're coming from."

Weiss shot her a questioning glance. "Really? You, not in the mood to party?"

"What? You think that just because of my sunny, energetic personality and good looks, I'd be partying every weekend?" Yang teased, well aware of how much she was exposing her chest to Weiss as she leaned over.

"W-well, I mean…" Weiss stammered, somewhat taken aback by the sudden display from Yang. "You do seem to fit the part?"

Yang grinned again and conked Weiss on the head. "Way to judge a book by its cover. I actually haven't been going out as much ever since I got this job – if I went out as often as I did before, I'd never make it to the gym. Still, every now and again, I make an exception – a girl's gotta let loose, y'know?" Yang then proceeded to sway her body to imaginary dance music, eliciting an awkward cough from her trainee.

"Right. Well, I should get going now – bus should be nearing the stop soon."

"Huh… has it already been fifteen minutes?" Yang asked as she looked at the clock. _Nope, only about ten minutes have passed. Why—_

"Not quite, but you know how the bus system can be," Weiss said with a slight tone of unease. Yang had to admit that Vale's transit was never that consistent, but it still seemed that Weiss was trying to scurry off in a hurry. "Anyway, I'll talk to you later. Bye, Yang."

"See ya," Yang replied with a weak wave as Weiss swiftly made her way to the exit of the gym. _That's weird, does she really not parties?_ That was the only explanation that Yang could muster up. Still, it seemed odd; Weiss didn't strike her as one to be as one to shy away from social situations. Then again, it could be something else entirely that Yang didn't think of.

_I shouldn't be jumping to conclusions, _Yang thought as she shook the questions from her head. _Let Weiss do her thing, and I can do mine._ Yang smiled at that thought. _Yeah, Saturday night's gonna be great – I just know it!_

* * *

Weiss plopped down limply onto her bed, the soreness in her muscles reaching a painful peak. That wasn't what was on her mind, though.

_Do I really have a good reason not to go out with Yang tomorrow?_

The answer seemed simple enough: no, of course not. Weiss had one too many a night during her first couple years at Beacon when something went wrong, either because of creepy guys all approaching her unsolicited or getting out-of-control drunk just to keep up with her friends back then. She could never hold her liquor well, so she had no idea why she bothered. Perhaps she'd feel left out if she wasn't as inebriated as everyone else? It sure felt that way.

And then there was the issue of control. Weiss was a girl who was always in full control of her actions. Every move she made was precisely calculated, but with just a couple drinks, all that went away. First, she'd lose control of her thoughts, doing things she would normally never dream of doing, and soon Weiss wouldn't even be able to tell her body to move where she wanted. Add to that the disgusting feeling of her gut rebelling against her and the headache wracking her brain the next morning… no, there was no reason for Weiss to ever want to subject herself to that again.

_Then why am I so doubtful right now?!_

Weiss knew well why – her alternatives weren't too exciting. She was going to have dinner with Coco and Velvet later that night, but other than that, she had no real plans for the weekend. Well, more like no plans that she was excited about. Weiss hadn't planned around doing anything Saturday evening, but she knew she always had the option of… well, not much, really. One of her classmates invited her to a house party, but Weiss had no inclination of going. Sure, it was not like she would not have anything to do there – plenty of people to talk to, plenty of music, plenty of shenanigans occurring – but it would all be so shallow. Weiss would come back from all that, crash in bed, and wake up in the morning not remembering anything exciting. _Joy._

Of course, there was always studying that could be done. Professors always thrust upon her more things than a reasonably functioning human being could handle, so any extra time would be a godsend. Weiss smiled at the idea. _Yes, I can start working on that presentation for history a day early. And if I do that, I can have just a bit more time on Sunday to work at the lab and finish the last bit of optimization! Then I can start my week with so much more free time!_

Weiss tried to continue forcing the smile, but there was no use lying to herself. _Yes, all that free time to do more work. Lovely_. Weiss sat up and rubbed her forehead, nursing a headache that had burrowed into her skull. So much of her life had been about being the best, performing perfectly. She had forgotten what it meant to relax.

…_except for that one time,_ Weiss mused. That night wasn't entirely therapeutic, but Yang really did try her best to get Weiss to wind down the stress that had been coiling up within her that week. Besides, the movie, as stupid as it was, did distract her from worrying about exams for just a little bit, and there was something exhilarating about clinging onto Yang and her monstrous vehicle as they jetted down the streets of Vale. Weiss felt… normal, for once. No tests, no family to appease, no stress about small failures, just… anything else.

_Perhaps… perhaps it might really be different this time._

Weiss whipped out her scroll and began scrolling through her contacts until she reached _Yang Xiao Long_.

* * *

_BETA: Jefardi_

_EDITORS: Just_one_more_ and Leivve_

* * *

**Short one, eh? In fact, this is the shortest chapter of them all, which is primarily thanks to this being only part of the original chapter. It turned out to be massive again, and when discussing it with Jef, we agreed that the pacing would be better if broken up like this. So, while this may be a shorter update than usual, it will be followed up with something much larger much sooner, as I already have a good portion of the next chapter already done! Stay tuned for more.**

**Also, I've recently released chapters for my other story, _The Purrfect Day_, a RL Pussy Magnet fic, and a brand-new story called _The Many Escapades of Mercury and Emerald_ (or MEME for short :D)! If you like my writing, you're likely to enjoy those stories as well. _Feel the Burn_ will always my main baby, but these other stories are what keep me sane in between writing sessions for _FTB._**

**That's all for now!**


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